


Can't Go To Hell

by TrebleMakerXP



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Other, Winchester Sister
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23990284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrebleMakerXP/pseuds/TrebleMakerXP
Summary: Olivia Winchester is the youngest of her siblings by a landslide. Will she be able to survive in their insane and dangerous life? (Title from Can't Go To Hell by Sin Shake Sin)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 28





	1. Sammy's at College

Olivia was barely two and a half when her mother disappeared. No leads, no clues, no nothing. Except a call to her father that she needed him to take care of Olivia.

John Winchester and his son Dean took custody of Olivia, not in the most legal way, but when did they ever? With Sam having left not long ago, the backseat was wide open for the necessities they now needed.

Olivia went all over the United States with them, seeing mountains, plains, and countless cities from the backseat window of her dad's '67 Impala.

Two years go by and John doesn't come back from a solo hunt. Three weeks with no contact and Dean packs the two up, tearing down streets to a small apartment complex, allegedly where Sam has been living.

Dean turns off the car, turning back to the half-asleep bundle in the backseat, Olivia wrapped up in a blanket Dean splurged on her first Christmas with them.

"Okay, I'm gonna go get Sammy, you stay here, don't open the door for anyone else, got it?"

"U'less they know the safe word, right?" Olivia slurred her words, fighting back yawns.

Dean smirked, unbuckling his seatbelt and pocketing the keys. "Exactly kiddo, and what's the safe word?"

"Mu'fu'r," Olivia answered, with the grin every kid has when they're told they can curse.

"That's right, now, stay here, and stay quiet. If you see anyone, what do you do?"

"Hide."

"You got it, kid." Dean carefully shut the drivers door, sneaking up to Sam's apartment.

* * *

Sam followed Dean down to the car, arguing about John's whereabouts.

"Dean, he does this all the time. He always leaves and he always comes back!"

"Not without contacting us for this long." Dean retorted, opening the trunk and showing Sam the newspaper clippings they'd collected about the hunt John had disappeared for.

"Dean..." Sam trailed off, eyes catching something in the backseat. "Dean, why do you have a pink blanket in the car?"

"Oh, right, you two haven't actually met yet." Dean slid to the side of the car, knocking on the window before unlocking and opening the door.

"Safe!" Olivia demanded.

"Motherfucker, now come here and meet somebody." Dean reached in to help Olivia with her seat belt and help her out of the car. "Olivia, this is Sammy. Sam, meet our baby sister Olivia."

Sam just stared at the tiny human who craned her head up to see him.

"You're a lot taller that your pictures." Olivia muttered, bending back to try and see his face.

Sam turned back to Dean, wide eyed and slack-jawed. "Uh, what?"

"Turns out the chick dad shacked up with, bout six years ago? She had a kid, ditched Olivia just after you left."

"Is Sammy gonna help us find Dad?" Olivia asked Dean, insistently tugging on the hem of his jacket.

Dean turned to Sam, eyebrow raised.

In less than twenty minutes, the three were back on the road headed to Jericho, California.


	2. Pilot

When Olivia fully awoke the next morning, the car was parked, and Dean was nowhere to be seen. It took her a few minutes to recognize the person in the passenger seat, and only then did she undo her seatbelt to shift around for a little bit. Sam turned his head, giving Olivia a slightly uneasy smile.

“Hey, morning.”

Olivia mumbled in response.

“How’d you sleep?”

Another mumble.

Sam turned back to what was in his lap, muttering to himself. A door on the other side of the car opened and Dean walked out, a bag in one hand. He gave Olivia a goofy grin as he walked around the car.

“Hey! You want breakfast?” He asked Sam, holding up a few random bags of junk food.

Sam leaned out of the car a bit farther, seeing what Dean was offering. “No, thanks.”

Dean shrugged, tossing the bag to Olivia through the window and letting her dig out her own food; pop tarts and a small milk bottle. There was extra water and she nabbed a bottle for later.

“So, how’d you pay for that stuff? You and Dad still running credit card scams?” Sam asked over the rustle from the backseat.

“Yeah, well, hunting ain’t exactly a pro ball career.” Dean took the nozzle out of the car and put it back on the pump. “Besides, all we do is apply. It’s not our fault they send us the cards.”

“Yeah? And what names did you write on the application this time?” Sam asked, swinging his legs back inside the car and closing the door.

“Uh, Burt Aframian and his son Hector.” Dean got into the driver seat, taking his soda and chips from Olivia in the back. “Scored two cards out of the deal.” The door shut.

“That sounds right.” Sam looked down and Olivia could see what he was messing with before. “I swear, man, you’ve gotta update your cassette tape collection.”

There were at least a dozen cassettes in the box in his lap; some had album art, others hand labeled.

“Why?” Dean asked.

“Well, for one, they’re cassette tapes. And two,” Sam holds up a tape for each band he names, “Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica?” Dean grabs the Metallica box from Sam. “It’s the greatest hits of mullet rock.”

“Well, house rules, Sammy.” Dean popped the tape into the player. “Driver picks the music,” He pointed over his shoulder at Olivia.

“Shotgun shuts his cakehole!” She cried, beaming at Sam’s scoff.

Dean dropped the tapes box back into the box of tapes and started the engine. He stared into the rearview mirror until Olivia was buckled up again, settled into her car seat.

“You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve-year-old. It’s Sam, okay?”

“Sorry, I can’t hear you, the music’s too loud.” Dean complained, taking off down the road.

The ride itself was mostly quiet, barring the blaring music and occasional quiet talks. Olivia took to watching the world go by and messing with a coloring book Dean had nabbed a few gas stations back.

A while later, they passed a sign reading **JERICHO 7** , Sam still on his phone. He thanked the other person before closing the phone.

“All right. So, there’s no one matching Dad at the hospital or morgue. So that’s something I guess.” He shrugged.

Dean glanced over at Sam, then at Olivia then back at the road. They came up on a bridge, with two police cars and several officers. “Check it out.” He drew Sam’s attention to it, who leaned forward for a closer look. Dean pulled over, staring for a few seconds before turning the engine off. Dean reached over to the glove compartment and pulled out the ID box. He shuffled through it before picking one out with a grin at a bug-eyed Sam. “Let’s go.” They both got out of the car, heading over to the officers.

They meandered around the bridge, talking to the officers and each other, looking around at everything, before coming back toward the car. Olivia could see Dean smack Sam on the head, pausing to apparently argue. Two men in suits walked over to them, talked for a second and Dean and Sam came back to the car.

“You up for a walk around town?” Dean asked Olivia, who nodded enthusiastically. As much as she loved the Impala, she was far too energetic to be permanently cooped up in it.

They drove further into town, parking on the side of a street and making their way around, Olivia clinging to Dean’s hand. They approached a theater with some sort of announcement on the marquee. They see a young woman putting up pictures with the victim, Troy’s, face.

“I’ll bet you that’s her.” Dean muttered.

“Yeah.” Sam agreed.

Olivia nodded. The trio walked up to the woman.

“You must be Amy.” Dean greeted.

“Yeah.” She sounded a bit uneasy.

“Yeah, Troy told us about you. We’re his uncles and cousin. I’m Dean, this is Sammy and Olivia.” Dean introduced them. Olivia gave a small wave, halfway behind Dean.

“He never mentioned you to me.” Amy shook her head, walking away.

They followed.

“Well, that’s Troy, I guess. We’re not around much, we’re up in Modesto.”

“So, we’re looking for him too, and we’re kinda asking around.” Sam continued. Another woman approached, gently putting a hand on Amy’s arm. She asked if Amy was okay and Amy nodded.

“You mind if we ask you a couple questions?” Sam asked. The women agreed and lead the group to a diner. They all sat in a booth, the women across Sam, Dean, and Olivia. They all ordered drinks, Dean letting Olivia get a milkshake rather than soda.

“I was on the phone with Troy. He was driving home. He said he would call me right back and…he never did.” Amy explained.

“He didn’t say anything strange, or out of the ordinary?” Sam asked.

Amy shook her head. “No. Nothing I can remember.”

“I like your necklace.” Olivia interrupted, chirping up from between her brothers.

Amy reached up to mess with the pendant she was wearing; a pentagram in a circle.

“Troy gave it to me. Mostly to scare my parents with all that devil stuff.” Amy remembered, laughing lightly.

Sam laughed a little, getting Dean’s attention. “Actually, it means just the opposite. A pentagram is protection against evil. Really powerful. I mean, if you believe in that kind of thing.” Sam rambled.

“Okay. Thank you, Unsolved Mysteries.” Dean muttered, taking his arm down from across the back of the bench. He leaned forward. “Here’s the deal, ladies. The way Troy disappeared, something’s not right. So, if you’ve heard anything…”

Amy and Rachel looked at each other, silent.

“What is it?” Dean asked, looking between the two.

“Well, it’s just…I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk.” Rachel, Amy’s friend, started.

“What do they talk about?” Dean and Sam asked together.

“It’s kind of this local legend. This one girl? She got murdered out on Centennial, like decades ago.” Rachel continued. She paused, Dean nodding for her to continue. “Well, supposedly she’s still out there. She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up? Well, they disappear forever.”

Sam and Dean looked at each other. They shortly finished their chat with the girls, getting the rest of Olivia’s milkshake in a to-go cup for her before heading to the library for some research.

Dean let Olivia grab a few books to read and plopped her near enough to them he could keep an eye on her. Dean got on the computer, trying to find anything to corroborate the girls’ stories. ‘(0) Results’ popped up every time. Sam sat next to him, watching.

“Let me try.” He reached toward the keyboard.

Dean smacked his hand. “I got it.”

Sam responded by shoving his chair away, taking over. Dean stopped himself with his feet, throwing an exasperated face at Olivia, who giggled. He rolled back over, smacking Sam’s shoulder.

“Dude! You’re such a control freak.” Dean grumbled. Sam ignored him.

“So angry sprits are born out of violent deaths, right?” Sam asked, fingers poised over the keys.

“Yeah.”

“Well, maybe it’s not murder.” Sam replied, typing into the computer. They found an article and Sam read it quietly to himself, Olivia couldn’t hear what they were reading

“This was 1981. Constance Welch, twenty-four years old, jumps off Sylvania Bridge, drowns in the river.” Sam said, after reading through the article.

“Does it say why she did it?” Dean asked.

“Yeah.”

“What?”

“An hour before they found her, she calls 911. Apparently her two little kids are in the bathtub. She leaves them alone for a minute, and when she comes back, they aren’t breathing. Both die.” Sam read out.

Dean shot an uneasy look toward Olivia, raising his eyebrows. He hummed, looking over the screen.

“’Our babies were gone, and Constance just couldn’t bear it,’ said husband Joseph Welch.” Sam continued reading.

“That bridge look familiar to you?” Dean muttered, the two sharing a look after. It was getting late, so Dean helped Olivia put the book she had back, going back out to the car.

They drove back to the bridge just inside of town, mostly quiet on the way. Dean parked on the bridge, turning the car off and pocketing the keys. “Liv, stay here.” He told Olivia, getting out with Sam and walking along the bridge.

With the windows up, she couldn’t really hear what they were talking about, but she assumed the case. They ended up pausing, Sam throwing his arms out as they seemed to start arguing. Dean suddenly slammed Sam against the side of the bridge. He quickly let him go, but Olivia was distracted by something ahead of them. They apparently saw it too, running toward it as it disappeared, leaning over the railing.

Out of nowhere, the Impala turned on, scaring Olivia. She could see the two turn toward the car, standing side-by-side. She saw Dean reach into his pocket and something shiny was pulled out

The keys, Olivia assumed.

The car jerked into motion, speeding straight toward her brothers. Olivia screamed.

“No! No, no no no no, stop! Stop!”

Whatever was driving the car didn’t listen, chasing Dean and Sam over the edge of the bridge as the two jumped off. The car stopped as soon as the two were out of sight.

As soon as the car turned off, Olivia threw her seat belt off, scrambling out of the car. She hopped onto the lower rung of the railing, looking over the side.

Sam had managed to catch the edge of the bridge and was pulling himself up, looking up at Olivia for a split second before back down at the roaring river far beneath them.

Dean was nowhere to be seen.

“Dean? Dean!” Sam yelled.

“D!” Olivia cried.

Suddenly, Dean crawled out of the water and onto the mud, panting.

“What?” He yelled back.

“Hey! Are you all right?” Sam called.

Dean held up a hand in an A-OK sign. “I’m super!” He just managed to call up to them.

Sam huffed a relieved laugh, carefully getting up and back onto the bridge. He leaned down gently laying a hand on Olivia’s arm.

“What about you, you okay Olivia?” He asked. Olivia nodded, roughly wiping her face dry.

Dean made his way back up to them slowly, and Olivia latched onto his leg, ignoring the smell. He patted her gently on the back, muttering reassurances. She eventually let go and he shifted to the hood of the car. He popped it open, checking over all the parts. Once he’d made sure of everything, he shut the hood, leaning on it.

“Your car all right?” Sam asked, from where he was standing.

“Yeah, whatever she did to it, seems all right now. That Constance chick, what a _bitch_!” Dean yelled the last bit, out into the open air.

“Well, she doesn’t want us digging around, that’s for sure. So, where’s the job go from here, genius?” Sam asked, settling against the hood next to Dean.

Dean threw his arms up in frustration, flicking mud off his hands. Sam sniffed the air, looking at Dean.

“You smell like a toilet.” Sam muttered.

Early the next morning, they headed to a motel, intent on getting a room to let Olivia stay in. Dean dropped his most recent credit card, a Hector Aframian, onto the guest ledger. “One room, please.” Dean asked, still filthy.

The clerk picked up the card, reading it. “You guys having a reunion or something?”

“What do you mean?” Sam asked, standing behind Dean.

“I had another guy, Burt Aframian. He came and bought out a room for the whole month.” The clerk explained. The two shared a look, getting their own key before heading toward John’s room.

Sam picked the lock fairly quickly, the door swinging open. He quickly stepped inside, pulling Dean in behind him as Olivia skipped in. Their eyes all went wide as they drank in the state of the room. Every vertical surface was near covered in papers; maps, newspaper clippings, pictures, notes. Books cover the desk and assorted junk obliterated the floor and bed, including something with a hazardous-materials symbol.

“Whoa.” Sam breathed, stepping over a line of salt. At the same time Dean turned on a light by the bed and Olivia picked up a half-eaten hamburger on the bed. She gave it a hesitant sniff before recoiling with a disgusted face, handing it to Dean who did the same.

“I don’t think he’s been here for a couple days at least.” Dean announced, dropping the burger in the trashcan. Dean turned to one of the walls.

Sam kneeled, fingering the salt on the floor. “Salt, cats-eye shells…he was worried. Trying to keep something from coming in.” Sam looked up at Dean. “What have you got there?”

“Centennial Highway victims.” The three looked over the assorted missing persons, almost none of it making sense to any of them. “I don’t get it. I mean, different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities. There’s always a connected, right? What do these guys have in common?”

Sam walked around, looking at other walls. He was quiet for a minute, turning on another lamp before speaking up. “Dad figured it out.”

Dean and Olivia turned to look. “What do you mean?” Dean asked, stepping over.

“He found the same article we did. Constance Welch. She’s a woman in white.” Sam explained, pointing at specific papers.

Dean smirked. “You sly dogs.” Dean turned to look at Sam. “All right, so if we’re dealing with a woman in white, Dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it.”

“She might have another weakness.” Sam tried to reason.

“Well, Dad would want to make sure. He’d dig her up. Does it say where she’s buried?”

“No, not that I can tell. If I were Dad though, I’d go ask her husband.” Sam tapped a picture, shrugging. “If he’s still alive.” Sam continues scanning his eyes over other papers.

“All right. Why don’t you, uh, see if you can find an address, I’m gonna get cleaned up.”

“Hey, Dean?” Sam stopped Dean from turning. “What I said earlier, about Mom and Dad, I’m sorry.”

Dean held up a hand to stop him. “No chick-flick moments.”

Sam nodded with a laugh. “All right. Jerk.”

“Bitch.”

“Dean!” Sam gestured to Olivia, who looked confused.

“What? She’s heard worse. Speaking of, go sneak out and get your bag to change clothes and I’ll help you clean up a bit.” Dean told her, passing her the Impala keys, holding up the one for the trunk.

Olivia nodded, face silly serious. She took the keys, going to do as she was told, grabbing her clothes bag and hurrying back in. She walked right past Sam, looking at a picture, going to the bathroom. Dean picked her up, sitting her on the sink and handing her a damp washcloth. She got the majority of the mud off herself, Dean only helping with harder spots. She quickly changed, putting her old clothes into a separate pocket, leaving to let Dean shower.

While he did that, Sam spent most of the time on his phone and Olivia looked around at all the various papers, though unable to read most of them. Sam had tried to start a conversation with her, but she wasn’t much for talking.

Dean, finally clean again, emerged from the bathroom. He grabbed his jacket, shrugging it on as he crossed the room. “Hey, man. I’m starving. I’m gonna grab a little something to eat in that diner down the street. You want anything?” He asked Sam, gesturing for Olivia to put her jacket back on too.

“No.” Sam barely looked up from his screen.

“Aframian’s buying.” Dean joked.

Sam merely shook his head, humming. Dean shrugged, picking up Olivia at her insistence and heading outside. Olivia looked around outside, seeing the clerk from before talking to some cops, pointing at the two of them.

“D, five-oh at 7.” She muttered, Dean barely glancing before pulling his phone out and dialing.

“Dude, five-oh, take off…. Uh, they kinda spotted us. Go find Dad.” Dean hung up, turning as the deputies approached them. He grinned. “Problem, officers?”

“Where’s your partner?” One asked. They both eyed Olivia, confused.

“Partner? What, what partner?” Dean stumbled.

The deputy that talked glanced over his shoulder, jerking his thumb toward the motel. The other headed over towards the door.

“So. Fake US Marshal. Fake credit cards. You got anything that’s real?”

Dean set Olivia down, knowing this wouldn’t go well. “My boobs.” Dean grinned wider.

The deputy grabbed him, slamming him over the hood of his cop car, reciting his rights. He threw Dean in the backseat. Setting Olivia next to him after making sure she was okay.

Once at the station, they took Dean to an interrogation room and tried to take Olivia somewhere else.

That didn’t go well either.

Olivia _screamed_. At the top of her lungs and as long as she could, only breathing to scream more. She kicked and flailed, not letting anyone try to pick her up or carry her.

In his room, Dean heard this and shrugged, suppressing a smirk. “She’ll keep going till she can at least see me.”

The Sheriff raised an eyebrow. “Or?”

“Or she’ll keep going until she passes out. Trust me, she’s a stubborn little tyke.”

Olivia was settled on a bench in the hall along the wall perpendicular to the door to his room. She glanced over every now and again, making sure she could still see him. An older woman came over, smiling a bit too wide.

“Hello dear, my name is Margaret Ava. What’s yours?” She asked, bending over to offer Olivia a hand to shake.

Olivia ignored it, arms crossed.

Margaret dropped her hand, still leaning over. “I saw your little… _display_ earlier. Is that your dad in there?” She pointed to Dean.

Olivia didn’t respond.

“Do you actually know him, sweetie?” Margaret wheedled.

“Can’t talk to me without an adult.” Olivia insisted, burrowing farther into herself, puffing out her cheeks.

“Oh, but I’m just trying to get to know you.” Margaret stood up, looking around a nearby corner. “I’ll bet you’re hungry! Would you like something from the vending machines?”

Olivia turned her eyes to look at the lady, pausing. “…coke an-and skittles. And I wanna open ‘em!” Olivia insisted, glaring as hard as a five-year-old can.

Margaret nodded, saying she’d be back in just a second. She disappeared around a corner, coming back moments later. Both were still sealed, but Olivia sniffed them, just to make sure. She maintained her glare as she snacked. She continued to refuse to talk, and Margaret eventually gave up, going back to her desk.

Other officers tried, giving up much quicker than the last. Hours seemed to pass before a deputy walked by her with a smile, leaning into Dean’s room. The sheriff soon walked out, closing the door behind him.

Less than two minutes passed, and Dean creaked the door open, waving Olivia over. She looked around for a second, making sure she was clear before hurrying over and hopped into Dean’s arms.

“Alright, short-stacks. Let’s get out of here.” Dean pocketed a familiar leather book, quietly hopping out the window and down the fire escape, carefully getting the two away from the station. They found a payphone and Dean managed to scrounge up enough change to make a call; his phone was taken, and he hadn’t had the time to get it back from evidence. Dean and Olivia squeezed in together, Dean keeping an eye out for any squad cars.

“Fake 911 phone call? Sammy, I don’t know, that’s pretty illegal…. Listen, we gotta talk…. Sammy, would you shut up for a second? .... Well, that’s what I’m trying to tell you. He’s gone. Dad left Jericho…. I’ve got his journal…. Yeah, well, he did this time…. Ah, the same old ex-Marine crap, when he wants to let us know where he’s going…. I’m not sure yet…. Sam? Sam!” Dean hung up, quickly opening the phonebooth door. “We gotta go, help me find a car to steal.”

Dean ended up finding a car, breaking into it and hotwiring it, flooring it off to the outskirts of town. Dean was tense the whole way, hands pale as he gripped the wheel. They reached an old, ramshackle house, Dean slamming on the brakes. “Liv, stay here!” He told her, getting out with a gun in hand. She saw him run toward the Impala, shooting. He paused and the brake lights shut off.

The Impala roared toward the house, Dean running after it. The car slammed into the house, through a wall, and Dean went in after it. Things were quiet for a few minutes before a light shined out of the house, waving in a pattern.

Olivia hopped out of the stolen car, hurrying toward the house, scanning over her brothers for bad injuries; Sam’s chest was bleeding but that seemed the worst of it. Dean slapped Sam on the chest, walking toward their car. Sam laughed, no doubt through pain.

“Yeah, I wish I could say the same for you. What were you thinking shooting Casper in the face, you freak?” Sam asked, clearly continuing their talk from before Olivia caught up.

“Hey, saved your ass.” Dean ruffled Olivia’s hair as he leaned over to look at the car. “I’ll tell you another thing. You screwed up my car? I’ll kill you.” He threatened, looking over his shoulder.

Sam merely laughed.

Back in the car and back on the road, the Impala teared down the road. Fortunately for Sam, only the right headlight was busted. Speaking of, he was looking between John’s journal, a page reading ‘DEAN 35-111’, and a map. Flashlight tucked between chin and shoulder, he used a ruler to find coordinates.

“Okay, here’s where Dad went. It’s called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado.” He pointed it out to the two.

Dean nodded. “Sounds charming. How far?”

“About six hundred miles.” Sam calculated.

“Hey, if we shag ass we could make it by morning.” Dean offered, hopeful.

Sam hesitated. “Dean, I, um…”

Dean glanced at him then back at the road. “You’re not going.”

“The interview’s in, like, ten hours. I gotta be there.”

Dean nodded, disappointed. “Yeah. Yeah, whatever. I’ll take you home.”

Sam turned off the flashlight and Olivia shifted, trying to fall asleep to hide her own disappointment.

She was asleep when they arrived at Sam’s apartment building, only waking up enough to wave a sleepy goodbye at Sam, pouting to herself as he waved back.

Dean looked back at her, sighing. “I know, I’m upset too. But he’ll come around.” Dean backed up, turning onto the main road for all of three minutes before doing a sudden U-turn, startling Olivia. “Hang on.” He muttered, flooring it back. As they pulled up, Olivia could see black smoke coming out of a few windows. “Don’t move.” He said, almost leaping out of the car and into the building.

Olivia, now wide awake, unbuckled herself, staring at the door Dean had disappeared through. Maybe a minute passed before Dean came out, dragging Sam with him as lights and sirens got closer.

Olivia hopped out, grabbing onto Sam’s leg as firefighters flooded the building. Sam and Dean both gave statements to the police, Dean walking over after his to find Sam at the trunk, loading a shotgun. Sam sighed, nodded, and tossed the shotgun into the trunk.

“We got work to do.”

Sam shut the trunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a kudos in you liked and hmu in the comments if you want!


	3. Wendigo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no right taking this long to finish this chapter, I apologize. However, I hope you enjoy!

The siblings were finally on their way to the coordinates John had left in his journal, over a week after Jess’ death. Olivia was in her normal seat, badly coloring in pictures in a gas-station bought coloring book; an early birthday gift from Dean. Her head bobbed to the movements of the Impala and the music currently playing through the cab.

Dean kept his eyes on the road, also bobbing his head to the music as the Impala tore down roads toward their destination.

Sam, once asleep, suddenly jerked awake, breathing a bit heavy. He blinked, rubbing his eyes hard.

Dean turned to give him a concerned look, eyes briefly flicking to a startled Olivia in the rearview mirror. “You okay?”

Sam briefly glanced at Dean, quickly looking back out of the window. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Dean nodded, eyes back on the road. “Another nightmare?” Sam just cleared his throat in response. “You wanna drive for a while?” Dean tried to offer.

Sam laughed. “Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that.”

“Just thought you might want to. Never mind.”

“Look, man, you’re worried about me. I get it, and thank you, but I’m perfectly okay.” Sam shifted to look between his two siblings.

Dean hummed, making eyes at Olivia in the mirror. Sam grabbed the map from between the two on the front bench.

“All right, where are we?” He asked, scanning the expansive paper.

“We are just outside of Grand Junction.” Dean replied, having to think for a second on the most recent road signs.

Sam folded the map back down, the red X labeling the coordinates disappearing into the folds. “You know what? Maybe we shouldn’t have left Stanford so soon.”

“Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica-“

“We gotta find Dad first.” Sam cut him off, hearing this for the dozenth time since they’d hit the road.

“Dad disappearing and this thing showing up again after twenty years, it’s no coincidence. Dad will have answers. He’ll know what to do.” Dean reassured, making sure Olivia nodded before looking back at the long empty road.

Sam picked the map back up, staring at it again. “It’s weird, man. These coordinates he left us, this Blackwater Ridge.”

“What about it?” Dean craned his neck to try and see the map.

“There’s nothing there. It’s just woods.” Sam set the map back down. “Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?”

Olivia turned her gaze out the far window as they passed a sign; Welcome to Lost Creek Colorado National Forest. They quickly found the Ranger Station, parking outside and heading inside. Sam locked onto the large 3D map of the forest, eyes quickly finding the ridge labeled “BLACKWATER RIDGE”. Dean and Olivia got distracted by decorations, Olivia on his hip.

“So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote. It’s cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place.” Sam rambled, scanning the terrain around the ridge.

“Dude, check out the size of this freaking bear.” Dean called, the two looking at a framed photo of a man standing behind a much larger bear. Olivia curled her hands into half-fists and quietly growled. Sam headed over to stand next to them.

“And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It’s no nature hike, that’s for sure.” Sam smugly told the two.

“You boys aren’t planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?” A voice behind them startled the three, whipping around to find a man in a ranger outfit. His nametag read Ranger Wilkinson.

“Oh, no, sir, we’re…environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper.” Sam half-laughed his answer. Dean grinned, raising a fist that wasn’t holding Olivia up.

“Recycle, man.”

The ranger looked between the three with a small grin. “Bull.” The siblings froze. “You’re friends with that Haley girl, right?”

“Yes. Yes, we are, Ranger…Wilkinson.”

“Well I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not exactly a Missing Persons now, is it?” Dean shook his head to agree with the man, Olivia copying. “You tell that girl to quit worrying, I’m sure her brother's just fine.”

“We will. Well that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?” Dean joked.

“That is putting it mildly.” Wilkinson agreed.

“Actually, you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date.” Dean asked, raising his eyebrows innocently when Wilkinson gave him an odd look.

Within minutes, the three were walking out to the car. Dead had the permit in hand, laughing.

“What, are you cruising for a hookup or something?” Sam asked, sounding annoyed.

“What do you mean?” Dean asked.

“The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?” Sam paused outside his door, Dean doing the same as Olivia clambered inside the vehicle on her own.

“I don't know, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?” Dean pointed out. The two paused, no words said as they stared at each other.

“What?” Sam finally asked.

“Since when are you all shoot first ask questions later, anyway?”

“Since now.” Sam turned away, opening his door.

“Really?” Dean asked, doing the same.

The siblings drove to the Collins house, parking outside and all heading up to the front door, knocking. The door opened to reveal a young woman, looking the three over.

“You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean, this is Sam, we're, ah, we're rangers with the Park Service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy.”

Haley hesitated, eyes flicking to Olivia a few times.

“Oh, it’s Bring-Your-Kid-To-Work Day.” Dean grinned as Olivia shifted closer a step.

Haley paused again. “Lemme see some ID.”

Dean pulled out a fake ID, holding it up to the screen door. Haley looked it over before opening the door, inviting them inside. Her eyes caught sight of the Impala, gesturing her head to it. “That yours?”

“Yeah.” Dean grinned. Sam looked back at the car.

“Nice car.” Haley lead them into the kitchen, a younger boy sitting at the table on a laptop.

“So, if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?” Sam asked after a few minutes.

“He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos—we haven't heard anything in over three days now.” Haley answered, setting down a bowl from another room.

“Well, maybe he can't get cell reception.” Sam pointed out.

“He's got a satellite phone, too.”

“Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?” Dean tried to reassure.

“He wouldn't do that!” The boy, Ben, finally spoke out. Dean looked him over, Ben averting his eyes as Haley brought out more food.

“Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other.” Haley told the three. Olivia looked down, fiddling with a loose string on her shirt.

“Can I see the pictures he sent you?” Sam asked.

“Yeah.” Haley used the laptop to pull up some pictures and videos. “That’s Tommy.” She pointed, switching to another picture before a video came up

 _“Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow.”_ Tommy said from the video. Sam narrowed his eyes a bit, spotting something.

“Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing.” Dean told her.

“Then maybe I'll see you there. Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself.” Haley shrugged, hands on her hips.

“I think I know how you feel.” Dean tried to reassure.

“Hey, do you mind forwarding these to me?” Sam asked, getting an affirmative.

Later that night found the three at a bar, sitting at a table as a game of pool broke somewhere behind them. Dean got Olivia some French fries to snack on as they talked.

“So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found.” Sam recounted, opening their dad’s journal.

“Any before that?” Dean asked.

Sam pulled out some old newspaper articles to show. “Yeah, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack.”

Dean read it over as Sam pulled out his laptop.

“And again in 1959 and again before that in 1936.” Sam opened the laptop, pulling up the video Haley sent him. “Every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this. Here's a clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out.” Sam pulled up the video, going through three frames of the video, one at a time.

A shadow crossed the screen, visible through the tent material behind Tommy.

“Do it again.” Dean said, Sam repeating the frames.

“That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move.”

Dean hit Sam’s shoulder, making him look up.

“Told you something weird was going on.” Dean bragged.

“Yeah.” Sam closed the laptop. “I got one more thing.” Sam handed him another newspaper article. “In 'fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive.”

Dean looked it over, reading. “Is there a name?”

Packing up their stuff, they headed over to the survivor’s house, an old man by the name of Mr. Shaw. He let them in at the fake ID, leading them inside with a cigarette in his mouth.

“Look, ranger, I don't know why you're asking me about this. It's public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a—"

“Grizzly? That's what attacked them?” Sam interrupted him.

Shaw took a puff of his cigarette, took it out, and nodded.

“The other people that went missing that year, those bear attacks too?” Dean asked.

A pause.

“What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing?” Dean pried.

Another pause.

“We knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it.” Dean continued.

“I seriously doubt that. Anyways, I don't see what difference it would make.” Shaw took a seat. “You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did.”

Sam took a seat across from Shaw. “Mr. Shaw, what did you see?”

Shaw paused. “Nothing. It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar. Like...no man or animal I ever heard.”

“It came at night?” Sam asked. A nod from Shaw. “Got inside your tent?”

“It got inside our cabin. I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door. It unlocked it. Do you know of a bear that could do something like that? I didn't even wake up till I heard my parents screaming.” Shaw recounted.

“It killed them?” Sam asked.

“Dragged them off into the night.” Shaw shook his head. “Why it left me alive...been asking myself that ever since.” He hesitated, a hand going to his shirt collar. “Did leave me this, though.” He pulled his collar down, revealing three long scars. No doubt claw marks. The three looked them over. “There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of a demon.”

Finishing their talk with Mr. Shaw, the three headed for a motel to stay in. They walked down a corridor, rooms on either side.

“Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. If they want inside, they just go through the walls.” Dean pointed out.

“So it's probably something else, something corporeal.” Sam muttered.

“Corporeal? Excuse me, professor.” Dean joked, jostling Olivia’s arm.

“Shut up. So what do you think?”

“The claws, the speed that it moves...could be a Skinwalker, maybe a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's _corporeal_. Which means we can kill it.”

Back out in the parking lot, Dean opened the trunk of the Impala, then the weapons box and propped it open with a shotgun, putting some guns and other weapons in a duffel bag. Olivia leaned on the bumper next to him

Sam leaned in on Dean’s other side. “We cannot let that Haley girl go out there.”

“Oh yeah? What are we gonna tell her? That she can't go into the woods because of a big scary monster?” Dean joked.

“Yeah.”

Dean stood up to look at Sam. “Her brother's missing, Sam. She's not gonna just sit this out. Now we go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend.” Dean picked up the duffel.

“Finding Dad's not enough?” Sam slammed the weapons box and trunk shut, clearly annoyed and upset. “Now we gotta babysit too?”

Dean stopped to stare at Sam

“What?” Sam lashed out.

“Nothing.” Dean threw the duffel at Sam, walking off to the motel with Olivia in tow.

The next morning, Sam and Dean got dressed and ready to go early, Olivia sitting on one of the beds as they readied.

“Dean, are you sure it’s a good idea to leave Olivia here?” Sam asked again.

“Yeah, she knows the rules.” Dean waved at Olivia to repeat them.

“Don’t let anybody in unless it’s you with the safe word or the secret knock, keep the sign on the door, keep it quiet.” Olivia held out fingers to list them off.

“See, she’ll be fine.” Dean turned to Olivia, kneeling in front of her. “Alright, you got enough food for at least a few days, but we shouldn’t be gone for that long. You know the number to call if we’re gone for a week, no contact?”

“Uncle Bobby at Singer Auto Salvage.”

“You got it, short stack. Okay, we’re off!” Olivia gave Dean a hug, and she watched the two walk out, peering out the window to watch the Impala disappear out of sight.

Once they had disappeared around a corner, Olivia pulled the curtains shut and shuffled over to the small couch, turning the tiny TV on to a channel that played Looney Toons. She ended up watching that most of the day, coloring some more here and there to keep her brain occupied and munching on a poorly made sandwich before 9 PM rolled around. Switching off the TV, Olivia shambled to the bathroom to brush her teeth and got ready for bed, curling under the covers of one of the beds, slowly falling asleep.

Waking up the next morning, she changed to normal clothes, packing her bag up a bit to keep the room clean. Deciding on an activity book Dean had gotten her a while back, she scribbled through that, Looney Toons on again as background noise as she crunched through a small box of Froot Loops. As noon neared, she got up to get some form of lunch and the phone between the beds rang, making her jump.

Picking up the phone, Olivia withheld a question, waiting for the other person to talk. The other end was mostly quiet, far away noise barely able to be heard.

 _“H-Hello?”_ What sounded like Sam’s voice came through the receiver, but without the safe word, Olivia kept quiet. _“Olivia?”_

 _“She there?”_ Dean’s voice came through.

_“I don’t know, there’s no response.”_

_“Did you say the safe word?”_

_“The what?”_

Dean sighed, taking the phone from Sam with a lot of loud shuffling. The background noise got slightly louder, Olivia assumed she’d been put on speakerphone. _“Motherfucker. We got the thing, we’ll be back at the motel to head out within the hour.”_

“Okay, D!” Olivia replied, hearing quiet slaps over the phone. “Did you find Dad?” She asked, before the phone could be hung up.

_“We’ll, uh…we’ll explain when we get there, okay Princess?”_

_“Princess?”_ Sam quietly asked, his voice just barely coming through the phone’s speaker.

“Okay D.” Olivia agreed, hanging the phone up after the _click_. She gathered all of their belongings, getting them set up by the door as she waited.

A specific set of knocks pulled Olivia’s attention to the room door, and she hurried over to unlock the door, letting Sam and Dean inside.

“Hey, squirt, you do okay?” Dean asked, pulling Olivia into a tight hug. Olivia nodded, hair bouncing. “Good. Now, give us a hand getting these to the car and we can head out.” Dean helped her shoulder her backpack, leading the way back out to the Impala, Sam bringing up the rear. “Oh, and those peanut M&M’s? Great choice, kiddo.”

Olivia beamed as Sam snorted behind them.

Once in the car, Dean gave Olivia the news; Dad wasn’t there, but they managed to save everyone from a Wendigo (leaving out the truth about Roy).

“But hey, we’ll find him. Just gonna take a bit longer than we planned.” Dean reassured, peering at Olivia over the back of the front bench, Sam behind the wheel.

The music played them out of town, their next hunt ahead.


	4. Dead in the Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a random burst of energy, and churned this out yesterday. Enjoy!

Olivia sat between Dean and the window in a restaurant connected to their current hotel; The Lynnwood Inn. Still slowly eating her chicken nuggets and fries, Dean’s plate was mostly empty as he scanned a newspaper for anything weird. His pen rested between his lips in between circling obituaries.

Their waitress, Wendy, approached the table with a flirty grin. “Can I get you anything else?” She asked Dean, who looked up at her with a grin around the pen.

Sam, returning from the bathroom, took his seat across the table again. “Just the check, please.” He replied, oblivious.

“Okay,” Wendy left, disappointed.

Dean, equally disappointed, dropped his head before looking up at Sam. “You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while.” He pointed towards Wendy’s retreating figure, aiming at her short shorts. “That’s fun.”

Olivia gave a quiet giggle at Sam’s exasperated expression, though he didn’t verbally reply. Dean mussed up her hair, tossing the newspaper to Sam.

“Here, take a look at this, I think I got one. Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin. Last week Sophie Carlton, eighteen, walks into the lake, doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged the water; nothing. Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either. They had a funeral two days ago.” Dean explained, pointing out the obituary in question.

“Dude!” Sam gestured to Olivia, who blinked between the two.

“What? She’s heard this sorta thing before.” Dean shrugged it off.

“…a funeral?” Sam asked, getting back on topic , peering over the edge of the newspaper.

“Yeah, it's weird, they buried an empty coffin. For, uh, closure or whatever.” Dean shrugged.

“Closure? What closure? People don't just disappear, Dean. Other people just stop looking for them.”

“Something you want to say to me?” Dean asked, after a short pause.

“The trail for Dad. It's getting colder every day.” Sam lowered the newspaper a bit.

“Exactly. So…what are we supposed to do?”

“I don't know. Something. Anything.”

“You know what? I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I wanna find Dad as much as you do?” Dean accused. Olivia shrunk a bit in her chair, focusing intently on the last of her milkshake and fries.

“Yeah, I know you do, it's just—"

“I'm the one that's been with him every single day for the past two years, while you've been off to college going to pep rallies. We will find Dad, but until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between here and there. Okay?” Dean asserted, Sam rolling his eyes. Wendy walked by again, distracting Dean for a moment.

“All right, Lake Manitoc. Hey!” Sam called, getting Dean’s attention back.

“Huh?”

“How far?”

It took a few hours to arrive at Lake Manitoc, which Dean said was in Wisconsin.

“You know, where Dad went after that poltergeist in the cheese factory?” He reminded her; the hunt was almost a year ago.

“He smelled funny after that one.” Olivia recalled, fiddling with her blanket with a grin. Sam gave a quiet snort at her report.

Once they had arrived in town, the siblings all went right to the Carlton family house. “Alright squirt, we’ll be right back. Stay here, okay?” Dean waited for a tiny salute before smiling back at Olivia. “That’s my girl.”

The doors shutting together, Olivia watched the two go towards the house, talking to a man for a minute before going around the side of the house toward the massive lake within throwing distance of the house. Keeping an eye on her surroundings, Olivia pulled out her activity book, coloring in a picture of Batman while she waited. Humming quietly to herself, the boys came back after a few minutes, getting back in the car.

“Well that was a bust, for the most part.” Dean grumbled, turning the engine over. Pulling onto the road again, he flickered his gaze to Sam. “Alright, station next?”

“Yeah.”

There was mostly silence in the car as they drove, finally finding the police station and pulling up. Dean helped Olivia out of the car, knowing she’d rather be able to stretch after the long ride. Flashing their badges at the front desk, they asked to talk to the Sheriff. As usual, questioning glances were thrown Olivia’s way, but the normal excuse of ‘Bring-Your-Kid-To-Work’ day got rid of them.

The Sheriff came out to bring them to his office, bending down to talk to Olivia for a second. “Ya know, rather than listen to boring old work talk, I’m sure Cheryl wouldn’t mind taking you to our break room and getting you a snack. If your Daddy agrees, I think there’s even some doughnuts left.” He finished in a fake whisper.

With a glance up at Dean, who nodded, Olivia slowly walked with Cheryl, who was the receptionist apparently, to a room with vending machines and coffee makers.

“You travel a lot with your Daddy, sugar?” Cheryl asked, giving Olivia a small bottle of water from the fridge with her donut.

Olivia nodded, knowing she’d have to bend some truths. “All the time.”

“Well, don’t you get to see your Mommy at all?” Cheryl tried to continue the conversation, but Olivia’s face fell.

“Mommy didn’t want me.” She said under her breath, pulling the donut apart into a few small pieces.

“Aw, honey, I’m sure that’s not true!” Cheryl tried to reassure.

Olivia didn’t reply other than a shrug, slowly eating the remains of her donut. After a little while of Cheryl trying to continue some small talk, Sam popped his head in, knocking on the door frame.

“Hey, uh, kiddo. We’re heading out.” He told her, watching Cheryl help her down off the chair. Olivia walked ahead, hearing Dean’s voice down the hall.

“I’m so sorry, I asked about her mother and the poor thing just clammed right up!” Cheryl apologized, her voice disappearing as Olivia found Dean, talking to a pretty lady near the front desk.

“Hey!” Dean greeted, feeling her grab onto his pant leg. He reached down, pulling her up onto his hip, though she hid her face in his suit, rather than greet the lady. “Oh, uh, Andrea, this is Olivia. Oli, this is Andrea, she’s the Sheriff’s daughter.” Olivia gave a half-hearted wave, still not looking at her. “Sorry, she’s not usually this shy.”

“Oh, it’s fine! I get it. Hi Olivia!” Andrea greeted as Sam returned.

“So, uh, about that motel?” Dean asked, his normal flirty voice back in effect.

“Yeah, sure. Bye Lucas!” Andrea called, and Olivia peered over Dean’s shoulder long enough to see a small kid, around her age, sitting just inside the Sheriff’s office.

“Thanks again.” Sam told the Sheriff as the group left. Andrea took the lead, apparently taking them to the motel.

“So, cute kid.” Dean piped up, shifting his grip on Olivia.

“Thanks. Uh, you too!” She replied as they crossed a street.

“Kids are the best, huh?” Dean tried to continue, but Andrea just gave him a bit of an odd look, ignoring the comment. They walked for a few minutes more in silence, stopping in front of a building that read **LAKEFRONT HOTEL**.

“There is it. Like I said, two blocks.” Andrea waved. Sam thanked her as she turned to Dean again. “Must be hard, with your sense of direction, never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line.” She turned, leaving. “Enjoy your stay!” She called over her shoulder.

Sam stepped up to Dean and Olivia. “’Kids are the best’? You don’t even like kids.”

“I love kids!” Dean retorted.

“Name three children that you even know. Not including Olivia.” Sam challenged. Dean tilted his head, thinking but only drawing blanks. Sam shook his head, walking into the motel as Dean scratched his head.

“I’m thinking!” He huffed, following Sam.

Once in a motel room, Sam got to work on his laptop and Dean started going through his duffle of clothing, Olivia watching and giving a silent opinion on a few.

“So there's the three drowning victims this year.” Sam read out, half-glancing at Olivia as he normally did when work talk came up.

“Any before that?” Dean asked, tossing a pair of pants aside.

“Uh, yeah. Six more spread out over the past thirty-five years. Those bodies were never recovered either. If there is something out there, it's picking up its pace.”

Dean tossed a shirt onto the bed. “So, what, we got a lake monster on a binge?”

“This whole lake monster theory, it, it just bugs me.” Sam admitted. Dean walked over, reading the webpage over Sam’s shoulder.

“Why?” He questioned.

“Loch Ness, uh, Lake Champlain, there are literally hundreds of eyewitness accounts, but here, almost nothing.” Sam’s eyes scanned the screen. “Whatever it is out there, no one's living to talk about it.” He scrolled, Dean suddenly pointing.

“Wait, Barr, Christopher Barr. Where have I heard that name before?” Dean muttered, Sam reading aloud.

“Christopher Barr, the victim in May.” They both stared at the screen, Sam clicking a few times. “Oh. Christopher Barr was Andrea's husband, Lucas's father. Apparently he took Lucas out swimming. Lucas was on a floating wooden platform when Chris drowned. Two hours before the kid got rescued. Maybe we have an eyewitness after all.”

“No wonder that kid was so freaked out. Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over.” Dean muttered, both stealing glances at Olivia.

They continued their work till the clock read a little after three.

“Hey, Andrea said something about the park at three, right?” Dean asked, getting a nod from Sam. He turned to Olivia, still on the bed. “Whaddya say, kiddo? Wanna go to the park for a bit?”

Olivia shrugged, but got off the bed to go anyway.

“Alright. You gotta go first?” Dean asked, getting some things together.

Olivia thought for a second, before nodding and going into the bathroom, shutting the door with a quiet click.

“Is she okay?” Sam asked, standing and adjusting his shirt collar.

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen her like this in a while.” Dean pulled his jacket on.

“Hmm…well, Cheryl, the receptionist, apparently she was just talking with Olivia and mentioned her mom? Said Olivia just shut down instantly.” Sam explained, getting an incredulous look followed by a slap to the arm.

“You didn’t think to mention that earlier?” Dean grumbled, hearing the toilet flush and water start running. “Damn it.” He muttered, the door swinging open. “Hey Princess, you ready?” Dean asked, helping her into her jacket and picking her back up with no questions asked.

Arriving at the park, Dean and Sam found Andrea, walking over with a few glances at the kid from before; he was at a separate bench than Andrea, coloring and playing with toy soldiers.

“Can we join you?” Sam asked, as they neared Andrea.

She looked up, seeming a little startled. “I’m here with my son.” She answered, Dean looking over at Lucas.

“Oh. Mind if we say hi?” He asked, walking over with Olivia without waiting for an answer. Olivia could hear Andrea say something to Sam as they neared Lucas, but couldn’t quite make out individual words.

Dean set Olivia down near Lucas, kneeling next to the bench. “How’s it going?” He asked, Lucas not even looking up at the two. “This is my sister, Olivia. I think you two are around the same age.” Still no response. Dean looked down, picking up one of the toy soldiers. “Oh, I used to love these things.” Dean grinned, imitating guns and explosions, tossing one soldier down.

Lucas still didn’t react, but Olivia let a small giggle slip. Dean beamed still, tilting his head to see Lucas’ drawing.

 **“** So crayons is more your thing? That's cool. Chicks dig artists.” Dean joked, getting an eye roll from Olivia, but still nothing from Lucas. Dean looked at the drawings he’d already done; one was a big black swirl, another of a red bicycle. “Hey, these are pretty good. You mind if we sit and draw with you for a while?” Dean asked, picking up a crayon and a piece of paper. “I’m not so bad myself.” He gloated, handing Olivia her own drawing materials, letting her get to work.

“You know, I'm thinking you can hear me, you just don't want to talk. I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something real bad. I think I know how you feel. When I was your age, I saw something.” He paused, shrugging. “Anyway. Well, maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you, or, uh...or believe you. I want you to know that I will. You don't even have to say anything. You could draw me a picture about what you saw that day, with your dad, on the lake. Okay, no problem. This is for you.” Dean held out his paper to Lucas, stick figures decorating the paper.

“This is my family.” Dean pointed to each person as he explained. “That's my dad. That's my mom. That's my geek brother, and Olivia and that's me.” He paused, grinning again. “All right, so I'm a sucky artist. I'll see you around, Lucas.” Dean pat Olivia on the head as he stood, walking back toward Sam and Andrea. As he left, Lucas picked up the picture Dean drew.

“…I know Dean talks a lot, but he’s a good guy.” Olivia muttered, seeing Lucas’ cheek twitch in response. Lucas started a new picture, drawing quickly. Once he deemed it finished, he stood up, walking over to the group of adults, handing Dean the paper, and walking back over to Olivia. Olivia gave him a small smile, continuing her own drawing, of what she had no real idea. Though she did add four small stick figures in one corner, a tiny grin poking through her upset demeanor.

She saw Sam leave at one point, Dean and Andrea apparently content to sit on the bench and watch the two kids color quietly for a while. Eventually, unfortunately, Dean called Olivia to go and she trotted over, waving goodbye to Lucas and Andrea as she took Dean’s hand to leave.

Due to her brighter expression, Dean decided to table talking to her about what happened with Cheryl, instead asking if drawing with Lucas was fun at all.

Olivia nodded. “He didn’t talk, but it was still fun. He seems really sad…and scared.”

Dean hummed, swinging their arms a bit higher. “Well, that tends to happen in our lives, kiddo. Bad things happen and people get hurt, others get a real wake up call.”

“But that’s why we do what we do, right D? So less people get hurt and scared?” Olivia blinked up at him with big babydoll eyes.

“That’s exactly right, Princess.” Dean nodded, his eyes catching on a sign just ahead of them, across the road. “Hey, whaddya say to ice cream? Just don’t tell Sammy.”

Olivia nodded, beaming as Dean hurried the two across the road.

* * *

Back at the motel room, post ice cream, Dean was lounging on one of the beds, Olivia sitting next to his legs with the remote to the small TV. The door unlocked and swung open, Sam entering the room.

“So, I think it’s safe to say we can rule out Nessie.”

“What do you mean?” Dean asked as Sam crossed the room to sit on the other bed’s side.

“I just drove past the Carlton house. There was an ambulance there. Will Carlton is dead.” Sam explained, arms resting on his knees.

“He drowned?”

“Yep. In the sink.”

“What the hell…so you're right, this isn't a creature. We're dealing with something else.”

“Yeah, but what?”

“I don't know. Water wraith, maybe? Some kind of demon? I mean, something that controls water...water that comes from the same source.” Dean rambled.

“The lake.” Sam snapped his fingers as he realized. Olivia looked down at her own hand, trying to figure out how to snap.

“Yeah.” Dean agreed, not paying attention to Olivia’s small pout next to him.

“Which would explain why it's upping the body count. The lake is draining. It'll be dry in a few months. Whatever this thing is, whatever it wants, it's running out of time.”

“And if it can get through the pipes, it can get to anyone, almost anywhere.” Dean stood, moving over to sit in a chair nearby, jostling Olivia. “This is gonna happen again soon.”

“And we do know one other thing for sure. We know this _has_ got something to do with Bill Carlton.” Sam added.

“Yeah, it took both his kids.”

“And I've been asking around. Lucas's dad, Chris—Bill Carlton's godson.”

“Let's go pay Mr. Carlton a visit.”

The siblings loaded up into the car, Olivia mostly asleep after the full day she’d had so far. Her head lolled between her shoulder and hanging down. Dean woke her enough to let her know they’d be going out to talk to Mr. Carlton and would be back in a bit, so she could lay down for the time being if she’d rather.

Olivia half-dozed for a while, more awake when Sam and Dean came back, opening and closing their doors close to simultaneously. She sat up, rubbing her eyes as the engine turned over, roaring to life. Dean let her get settled before pulling out onto the road.

Peering over Sam’s shoulder, Olivia saw a new drawing, probably from Lucas, of a church.

“Andrea said the kid never drew like that till his dad died.” Dean started the conversation.

“There are cases—going through a traumatic experience could make people more sensitive to premonitions, psychic tendencies.” Sam muttered, studying the paper.

“Whatever's out there, what if Lucas is tapping into it somehow? I mean, it's only a matter of time before somebody else drowns, so if you got a better lead, please.”

“All right, we got another house to find.”

“The only problem is there's about a thousand yellow two-stories in this county alone.” Dean grumbled.

“See this church? I bet there's less than a thousand of those around here.”

“Oh, College Boy thinks he's so smart.” Dean joked.

“You know, um...what you said about Mom...you never told me that before.” Sam stuttered.

“It's no big deal.” Dean replied, pausing for a moment. “Oh God, we're not gonna have to hug or anything, are we?”

Sam snorted, rolling his eyes and Olivia giggled as Dean tore through town to where a church like the one on the paper might be. Olivia kept her gaze trained out the windows, searching for a similar building, when her eyes caught it.

“D! Down there! I think that’s it!” She called, pointing down a side street to their left. Dean turned, slowing to a stop outside of the building.

“Nice catch, kid!” Dean praised, the three getting out of the car to get a better look; there was a yellow house next to the church and a wooden fence near the house.

“Looks like it.” Sam agreed, the three heading for the house. Knocking on the door, they were quickly let in by an older woman, no doubt Mrs. Sweeney.

“We’re sorry to bother you, ma’am, but does a little boy live here, by chance? He might wear a blue ball cap, has a red bicycle.” Dean asked.

“No sir. Not for a very long time. Peter's been gone for thirty-five years now.” Mrs. Sweeney shook her head, looking toward a picture of a small boy on a side table. “The police never— _I_ never had any idea what happened. He just disappeared.”

Olivia looked around, gently tugging Dean’s arm to point to a number of toy soldiers on a table.

“Losing him—you know, it's...it's worse than dying.” Mrs. Sweeney continued.

“Did he disappear from here? I mean, from this house?” Dean asked, glancing at Sam.

“He was supposed to ride his bike straight home after school, and he never showed up.”

Dean picked a picture off a nearby mirror. There are two boys in the picture, one Peter with a bicycle.

“Peter Sweeney and Billy Carlton, nineteen seventy.” Dean read from the back of the picture.

They quickly left, back on their way to the Carlton house again.

 **“** Okay, this little boy Peter Sweeney vanishes, and this is all connected to Bill Carlton somehow.” Sam started.

“Yeah, Bill sure as hell seems to be hiding something, huh?” Dean huffed.

“And Bill, the people he loves, they're all getting punished.”

“What if Mr. Bill did something to Peter?” Olivia asked, piping up.

“What if Bill killed him?” Sam asked.

“Peter's spirit would be furious. It'd want revenge. It's possible.” Dean drove faster back down the road.

Dean pulled up in front of the Carlton house. Sam and Dean headed for the house, but Olivia noticed something by the water. She rolled down the window of the car, quickly. “D!” She yelled, pointing to the lake. The two turned, now running for the boat going farther into the lake. The man in the boat, Bill Carlton, ignored their cries to turn around.

Suddenly, the water rose up and flipped Bill’s boat. When the water calms, both he and the boat are gone.

The siblings, after not finding anything, headed back to the police station, finding a very distraught Lucas and Andrea inside.

“Sam, Dean.” Andrea stood, putting a bag and container on a chair, out of her hands. “I didn't expect to see you here.”

“So now you're on a first-name basis. What are you doing here?” The Sheriff, who was just behind the siblings, asked.

“I brought you dinner.”

“I'm sorry, sweetheart, I don't really have the time.”

“I heard about Bill Carlton. Is it true? Is something going on with the lake?” Andrea asked.

“Right now, we don't know what the truth is. But I think it might be better if you and Lucas went on home.”

Lucas suddenly looked up with a whine, jumping up to grab Dean’s arm that wasn’t holding Olivia’s hand

“Lucas, hey, what is it? Lucas?” Dean tried to ask.

“Lucas.” Andrea tried.

“Lucas, it's okay. It's okay. Hey, Lucas, it's okay. It's okay.”

Andrea pulled Lucas away, taking him outside, though Lucas’ eyes never looked away from Dean.

The Sheriff took off his jacket, leading the way into his office. Sam and Dean followed, leaving Olivia in the front area to hop into a chair. She couldn’t hear much from the office, but the Sheriff didn’t look too happy.

Sam and Dean exited a few minutes later, gathering Olivia to go back to the car. “C’mon squirt, we gotta go.”

It took them packing bags and going to put them in the car for Olivia to realize they meant leave _town_ , not the station.

“Why’re we leaving? We didn’t get the monster!” Olivia asked, though she let Dean take her to the car and help tuck her in.

“The Sheriff found out we were lying, and if we don’t, he’s gonna bring more police here to take us away and separate us.” Dean explained, sitting a hand on top of her head. “Don’t worry, we’ll call Pastor Jim on the road, see if he can get out here quick, just to make sure everything’s fine.”

* * *

It was dark out when Olivia awoke, having fallen asleep a little ways into the drive. Sam was telling Dean that the light was green, the Impala not moving at first. Dean turned right, confusing Sam.

“Uh, the interstate's the other way.” Sam pointed over his shoulder.

“I know.” Dean hummed.

 _“_ But Dean, this job, I think it's over.”

“I'm not so sure.”

“If Bill murdered Peter Sweeney and Peter's spirit got its revenge, case closed. The spirit should be at rest.”

“All right, so what if we take off and this thing isn't done? You know, what if we've missed something? What if more people get hurt?”

“But why would you think that?”

“Because Lucas was really scared.” Dean admitted.

“That's what this is about?” Sam asked after a beat.

“I just don't want to leave this town until I know the kid's okay.”

“Who are you? And what have you done with my brother?”

“Shut up.” Dean grumbled, looking at Sam, then Olivia in the rear view mirror.

When they arrived at Andrea’s house, Dean waved Olivia out with them, thinking she could help with Lucas if needed.

“Are you sure about this? It’s pretty late, man.” Sam complained again.

Dean ignored him, ringing the doorbell. Within seconds, Lucas threw the door open, looking desperately afraid.

“Lucas? Lucas!” Dean asked, Lucas taking off and the siblings all followed.

Down a hallway, water is pouring out from under the bathroom door and down the stairs. Lucas starts pounding on the bathroom door, but Dean gently pushed him and Olivia over to Sam, kicking in the door. Lucas, once the door was open, grabbed onto Dean again. Sam, free of kids after putting Olivia back with Dean as well, ran into the bathroom and reached into the tub, trying to pull Andrea out. It took too long, Olivia thought, when Sam was finally able to get Andrea out of the water completely, letting Andrea start hacking up water.

Dean sent Olivia to go with Lucas to his room, once everyone was assured that everyone else was okay. The two sat quietly for a bit, drawing again and messing around with the toy soldiers, when Lucas suddenly stopped, looking around for a second, before standing and walking out of the room, pulling Olivia with him.

Dean noticed them first, turning to look at the kids. “Lucas? Olivia?” He asked, seeing the near-death grip Lucas had on Olivia’s wrist. Lucas paid him no attention, staring out of a window. “Lucas what is it?” Dean tried again.

Lucas opened the door in front of them, walking outside. The adults all followed, wary.

“Lucas, honey?” Andrea asked, with still no response.

Lucas suddenly stopped, staring at the ground, then up at Dean.

“You and Lucas get back to the house and stay there, okay? Olivia, go with them.” Dean told them, letting Andrea pull both kids into her house.

They were half-watching from the window as Sam and Dean grabbed shovels from the trunk of the Impala, eventually pulling out a red bicycle. Sam and Dean turned, and the three in the house could see the Sheriff standing a little bit away, a shotgun pointed at Sam and Dean. They dropped the shovels, trying to talk to the Sheriff.

Andrea, realizing the severity, turned to Lucas and Olivia. “Kids, go to Lucas’ room. Lock the door and wait for me. Don’t come out.” Andrea told them, Lucas pulling Olivia away as Andrea went outside.

They got most of the way to Lucas’ room when he stopped, turning and going to a different door, this one closer to the lake.

“Lucas? We gotta go hide!” Olivia tried to remind him, but it didn’t seem like he could hear her. “Lucas?” Olivia kept following Lucas, being pulled out onto the dock, only stopping at the edge. There was a toy soldier in the water and Lucas kneeled down to try and reach it.

Olivia turned to see the adults all yelling their names, running over, looking back down at the water just in time to see an arm shoot out to drag Lucas into the water, pulling Olivia in with them.

The water was dark, too dark to see really anything around her, though it felt like Lucas had let go of her arm. It felt like she was down there for forever, quickly losing air and consciousness. She felt her body suddenly be tugged as she finally lost consciousness, blacking out completely.

She woke up in someone’s arms, groaning quietly. “Hey, don’t try to move too much. You’re okay, we gotcha.” A voice reassured, and she was distantly aware that it wasn’t Dean, but felt comforted by it nonetheless.

She awoke again later, in the Impala, blankets wrapped tightly around her body, laying down on the seat on her side. Carefully getting unwound, she sat up with a groan.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty, take it easy. You’re okay, so’s Lucas.” Dean reassured her, looking over his shoulder at her. “It’s okay, we’re gonna stay the night at the motel again, make sure this thing’s gone and you two are okay.”

Olivia nodded, looking over at Sam, memories from earlier resurfacing. “Sammy?” She asked, drawing his attention to her.

“Yeah?”

“Did you get me out of the water?” She asked, titling her head to the side.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, Dean found Lucas first, and I found you.” Sam explained.

Olivia nodded, quiet for a minute. “Thanks, Sammy.” She decided on, Sam looking a bit startled.

“Your welcome, Olivia.” He finally said.

“Shuddup, Sam. We’re family, Olivia, that’s what we do.” Dean reminded the two, but the atmosphere had definitely calmed a bit. Maybe for the first time since Sam had joined them.

The next day, the three exited the motel, tossing bags inside.

“Look, we're not gonna save everybody.” Sam said, continuing a past conversation.

The two had let slip that the Sheriff, Jake, had given himself up to save her and Lucas, finally satiating Peter’s revenge.

“I know.” Dean muttered.

“Sam, Dean.” Andrea called, walking up with Lucas and a large platter of food.

“Hey.” Dean greeted.

“We're glad we caught you. We just, um, we made you lunch for the road.” Andrea gestured down to Lucas, who was carrying the tray of sandwiches. “Lucas insisted on making the sandwiches himself.”

“Can I give it to them now?” Lucas asked, his voice shy and quiet, but there.

“Of course.” Andrea smiled, kissing Lucas’ head.

“Come on, Lucas, let's load this into the car. Olivia, give us a hand.” Dean waved the two kids over to the car. Dean was trying to get Lucas to repeat something, which Olivia could only giggle at.

“All right, if you're gonna be talking now, this is a very important phrase, so I want you to repeat it one more time.” Dean said, putting the sandwiches on the bench with Olivia.

“Zeppelin rules!” Lucas cried.

“That's right. Up high.” Dean held a hand up for a high-five, which Lucas obliged with a huge grin. “You take care of your mom, okay?”

“All right.” Lucas agreed, Andrea coming up to give Dean a quick kiss.

He paused, scratching his head as he went around the car.

“Sam, move your ass. We're gonna run out of daylight before we hit the road.” He grumbled, getting in the car, Sam following as Olivia got settled, waving to Andrea and Lucas as Dean started the engine, driving off to their next monster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I really just doubled the word count with one chapter. Also, I won't be doing every episode (I'm impatient to get through the early seasons) but I do have most of season 1+2 planned.


	5. Skin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all know where this is going

The Impala pulled into a gas station, weeks after the lake spirit Peter’s demise. In that time, the siblings had taken down two other spirits; one was haunting airplanes and making them crash, killing all passengers, the other killing those who blamed themselves for another’s death, working under the Bloody Mary urban legend.

Dean turned in his seat, facing his siblings better. “Alright, I figure we’d hit Tucumcari by lunch, then head south, hit Bisbee by midnight.” Olivia nodded, but Sam didn’t react. “Sam wears women’s underwear.” Dean tried, pulling a giggle from Olivia.

“I’ve been listenin’, I’m just busy.” Sam muttered, gaze fixed on the device in his hands.

“Busy doin’ what?”

“Reading e-mails.”

Dean climbed out of the car, opening the gas tank to refill the car. “E-mails from who?”

“From my friends at Stanford.”

“You’re kidding. You still keep in touch with your college buddies?”

“Why not?”

“Well, what exactly do you tell ‘em? You know, about where you’ve been, what you’ve been doin’?” Dean asked, putting the nozzle into the tank opening.

“I tell ‘em I’m on a road trip with my big brother. I tell ‘em I needed some time off after Jess.”

“Oh, so you lie to ‘em.”

“No. I just don’t tell ‘em….everything.”

“That’s lying.” Olivia leaned forward in her seat.

“I mean, hey, man, I get it, tellin’ the truth is far worse.” Dean shrugged.

“So, what am I supposed to do, just cut everybody out of my life?” Sam asked, getting a shrug from Dean. “You’re serious?”

“Look, it sucks, but in a job like this, you can’t get close to people, period.”

“You’re kind of anti-social, you know that?” Sam said after a beat.

“Yeah, whatever.” Dean waved him off, Sam turning back to his PDA.

“God….” Sam muttered a minute later.

“What?”

“In this e-mail from this girl, Rebecca Warren, one of those friends of mine.”

“Is she hot?” Dean smirked.

“I went to school with her, and her brother, Zack. She says Zack’s been charged with murder. He’s been arrested for killing his girlfriend. Rebecca says he didn’t do it, but it sounds like the cops have a pretty good case.” Sam relayed, ignoring Dean’s comment.

“Dude, what kind of people are you hangin’ out with?”

“No, man, I know Zack. He’s no killer.”

“Well, maybe you know Zack as well as he knows you.” Dean prodded.

“They’re in St. Louis. We’re goin’.” Sam decided, looking up routes already.

“Look, sorry ‘bout your buddy, okay? But this does not sound like our kind of problem.” Dean chuckled.

“It is our problem. They’re my friends.”

“St. Louis is four hundred miles behind us, Sam.” Dean argued, looking to Olivia for help.

Olivia, however, shrugged. “We’ve gone farther with less, D.” She pointed out.

Sam gave Dean a smug grin. Dean, grumbling about traitorous siblings, put the gas nozzle back and got back in the car, roaring back down the road the way they’d came.

The next day, Sam pointed out a specific house and Dean pulled up outside. All clambered out of the car, Olivia taking both brother’s hands as they walked up to the front door, Sam knocking. The door opened, revealing a semi-short blonde woman, who grinned when she saw Sam.

“Oh my God, Sam!”

“Well, if it isn’t little Becky.” Sam greeted.

“You know what you can do with that little Becky crap.” She grinned wider, giving Sam a hug.

“I got your e-mail.”

“I didn’t think that you would come here.”

Dean stepped forward before the two could get too caught up. “Hi, Dean. Older brother.” He extended a hand to shake, which Rebecca took.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” Dean stepped back, Sam gesturing slightly behind them where Olivia had ended up on the step.

“And this is our baby sister, Olivia.” He introduced.

“Oh! Hi there!” Rebecca waved, Olivia giving a smaller one back.

“We’re here to help. Whatever we can do.” Sam offered.

“Come in.” Rebecca offered, leading the way inside.

“Nice place.” Dean complimented, closing the front door behind the group.

“It’s my parents’. I was just crashing here for the long weekend when everything happened. I decided to take the semester off. I’m gonna stay until Zack’s free.”

“Where are your folks?” Sam asked, looking around the empty house.

“They live in Paris for half the year, so they’re on their way home now for the trial.” Rebecca explained, leading them into the kitchen. “Do you guys want a beer or something?” She offered.

Dean smiled, but Sam cut him off. “No, thanks. So, tell us what happened.”

“Well, um, Zack came home, and he found Emily tied to a chair. And she was beaten up and bloody, and she wasn’t breathing.” Rebecca’s eyes started to water. “So, he called 911, and the police—they showed up, and they arrested him.

“But, the thing is, the only way that Zack could’ve killed Emily is if he was in two places at the same time. The police—they have a video. It’s from the security tape from across the street. And it shows Zack coming home at 10:30. Now, Emily was killed just after that, but I swear, he was here with me, having a few beers until at least after midnight.”

“You know, maybe we could see the crime scene. Zack’s house.” Sam offered.

“Why? I mean, what could you do?”

“Well, me, not much. But Dean’s a cop.” Sam patted Dean’s shoulder, making the man laugh.

“Detective, actually.”

“Really? Where?” Rebecca asked.

“Bisbee, Arizona. But I’m off-duty now.”

“You guys, it’s so nice to offer, but I just—I don’t know.” Rebecca fiddled with her fingers.

“Bec, look, I know Zack didn’t do this. Now, we have to find a way to prove that he’s innocent.” Sam reassured her, getting a nod.

“Okay. I’m gonna go get the keys.” Rebecca left the room, disappearing down the hall.

“Oh, yeah, man, you’re a real straight shooter with your friends.” Dean joked, getting Olivia to quietly laugh.

“Look, Zack and Becky need our help.” Sam retorted.

“I just don’t think this is our kind of problem.”

“Two places at once? We’ve looked into less. Right, Olivia?” Sam asked, getting a nod. Dean didn’t reply, clearly outnumbered.

Once Rebecca had found Zach’s house keys, they all piled into the Impala, Rebecca in the back with Olivia. As they pulled up, Rebecca gave an uneasy look at Olivia.

“Guys, I’m not so sure Olivia should come inside. It’s, uh…pretty graphic.”

“No problem, she can stay out here. Kiddo, you know the rules.” Dean waved for her to repeat them.

“Stay here, stay quiet, don’t unlock the doors without the safe word.” Olivia parroted.

“Safe word?” Rebecca cocked an eyebrow at the brothers.

“Can’t be too careful.” Dean smirked, leading the way to the house, Olivia watching through a partially opened window.

“And you’re sure this is okay?” She heard Rebecca ask Dean.

“Yeah. I am an officer of the law.” Dean reassured, the three shortly ducking under police tape to enter the house.

They came back out about twenty minutes later, shocking Rebecca with what the safe word was, and headed back to Rebecca’s house.

“Ok, I have to ask, why is your safe word, uh…that?” She asked, looking around at the siblings.

“Actually, I don’t know either.” Sam admitted, looking at his brother.

“Olivia, you wanna explain?” Dean asked, smirking.

“Because no one would say that to a kid without a reason, so they couldn’t guess it easily.” Olivia recounted, smiling wide.

“…can’t argue with that logic.” Rebecca finally muttered, seemingly appeased.

“Hey, Olivia came up with it, I just agreed.”

“What? And Dad was okay with that?” Sam asked.

“…what Dad doesn’t know, won’t hurt him in this instance.” Dean mumbled, pulling up outside of Rebecca’s house. “Hey, grab your backpack, okay squirt?” Olivia nodded, pulling the bag up from the floor and shouldering it as they re-entered the house.

Dean set Olivia on the floor with a newer activity book and some crayons, before sitting with Rebecca and Sam in front of Rebecca’s laptop to watch the security footage.

“Here he comes.” Rebecca pointed at the screen after a minute.

“22:04, that’s just after ten. You said time of death was about 10:30.” Dean muttered.

“Our lawyers hired some kind of video expert. He says the tape’s authentic. It wasn’t tampered with.”

“Hey, Bec, can we take those beers now? Maybe a soda for Olivia?” Sam asked, suddenly.

“Oh, sure.” Rebecca got up, moving to the kitchen.

“Hey.” Sam called, making her turn. “Maybe some sandwiches, too?”

“What do you think this is, Hooters?” Rebecca snarked, leaving the room.

“I wish.” Dean muttered, turning to Sam. “What is it?”

“Check this out.” Sam clicked a few keys on the laptop, waiting for a minute before hitting one more.

“Well, maybe it’s just a camera flare.” Dean reasoned.

“That’s not like any camera flare I’ve ever seen. You know, a lot of cultures believe that a photograph can catch a glimpse of the soul.” Sam goes on.

“Right.”

“Remember that dog that was freakin’ out? Maybe he saw this thing. Maybe this is some kind of dark double of Zack’s, something that looks like him but isn’t him.”

“Like a Doppelganger.” Dean thought.

“Yeah. It’d sure explain how he was two places at once.”

After a short deliberation, Sam and Dean got ready to go back to Zack’s house for another look, though they asked Rebecca to let them leave Olivia there.

“Don’t worry, short stack. We just need you to stay here to keep Rebecca safe, ‘kay?” Dean reasoned, winking at her before standing and leaving with Sam.

A few minutes after they left, Rebecca offered to make Olivia lunch, seeing as it was getting to be about that time and, honestly, Olivia was too skinny for her liking.

“Yes, please!” Olivia grinned, following Rebecca into her kitchen to watch her make the two of them sandwiches, Rebecca pouring Olivia a semi large glass of milk.

A little while after eating, Rebecca stepped to another room to make a call, sounding more upset as the call went on. Hanging up, she called another number.

“Where are you?” Rebecca asked the other person, Olivia listening in over the sound of the TV Rebecca had turned on earlier. There was a pause as the other person responded. “Well, look, Sam, just stop, ‘cause I really don’t need your help anymore….I told the lawyers that we went to the crime scene….Well, I told them that we were with a police officer. And they checked it out, and they told me that there is no Detective Dean Winchester….No, I don’t understand why you would lie to me about something like that….Oh, trying to help? Do you realize that that was a sealed crime scene? This could have just ruined Zack’s case…No, goodbye, Sam.” Rebecca hung up, coming back into the living room to rejoin Olivia in front of the TV. Olivia gave no sign that she’d heard, instead asking if Rebecca thought she should use blue or red on a certain part of the picture.

Hours passed, and with Sam and Dean still not back to get Olivia, Rebecca set her up in the guest room for the time being, leaving the door open just a crack and the hall light on after reassuring Olivia that she was sure Sam and Dean would be back for her soon.

Olivia had her doubts; as much as she loved her brothers and trusted them, she’d been burned by that sort of thing before. After a lot of tossing and turning, Olivia slowly fell into a restless sleep.

She woke up a while later, the clock telling her it was the middle of the night, the sounds of yelling downstairs catching her attention.

_“You are disgusting, just get the hell out of here!”_ Rebecca’s voice trailed through the cracked door, drawing Olivia to the space, listening intently.

_“Rebecca, just calm down.”_ Dean’s voice, though quiet, was now able to be heard due to her proximity to the door.

_“Calm down? What is wrong with you?”_

_“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you?”_ Olivia felt a shiver go up her spine; though it was Dean’s voice, it didn’t sound like him for some reason.

Olivia missed what Rebecca said next, but it was quickly followed with loud thuds and Rebecca screaming.

_“Give me your hands!”_ Dean’s voice commanded, sounding far too much like Dad than he would ever want to. There was more screaming before Dean yelled at her to “ _Shut up!”_

The screaming quieted down, whether Rebecca had been gagged or given up, Olivia didn’t know.

She heard a loud sigh, followed by thundering footsteps toward her, up the stairs.

_“Olivia?”_ Dean’s voice lilted, growing louder as he got closer.

Olivia covered her mouth with both hands, quietly running to the closer in the corner of the room, silently climbing inside and pushing herself into the corner. Her eyes were wide enough, they felt like her eyeballs would pop out if she jumped too hard, her breath coming in quick, short bursts.

“Olivia?” Dean’s voice was even closer now, the bedroom door creaking open slowly. “Kiddo? It’s me, it’s okay, it’s safe.”

Olivia still didn’t dare move, tensing to run if it was needed.

“Motherfucker, okay Princess? We’re safe now.”

Olivia felt her body sag, bursting out of the closet and running straight to Dean’s arms. “Hey, Princess, it’s okay now. I’ve got you.”

“You and Sammy get the monster?” Olivia asked, burying her face in Dean’s shirt.

“Sure did, kiddo. C’mon, let’s go.” Dean picked her up, going for the bedroom door. “Now, let’s get this over with.”

Before Olivia could ask what that meant, Dean turned the corner so Olivia could see Rebecca, tied up with a phone cord and covered in her own blood. Olivia gasped and felt ‘Dean’ shift and a press of cold metal made her stomach tense.

“No one scream, and this can be nice and easy.” He threatened, both girls staying quiet. Walking over to the closet, ‘Dean’ put Olivia down, pushing her inside. “Stay quiet, now. Or Rebecca won’t go so easy, okay?” He waved the knife back and forth, taunting Olivia. Closing the closet door, he shoved a chair under the handle, effectively locking Olivia inside.

Without any source of light, Olivia was in total darkness in the closet, only half able to hear ‘Dean’ taunting Rebecca.

_“You’re a nice girl, Rebecca. I mean, I liked you. Believe me, that makes this harder…but I gotta do what I gotta do.”_ ‘Dean’ seemed to be wrapping up his monologue.

Suddenly, a loud crash came from the other end of the house, making Olivia jump, almost losing her footing on the closet’s contents. Olivia heard Rebecca start to scream, before it was muffled.

Loud footsteps moved toward them; yelling being heard as people entered the room they were in.

_“In there! He locked my sister in the closet!”_ Olivia heard, moving back towards the back of the space as loud steps neared her. The scrape of the chair being moved, followed by the door opening and bright lights being flashed in her face.

“It’s okay, you’re okay now.” A heavily armored man reassured her, stepping back so Olivia could see Rebecca, being helped out of the chair by another man.

“Olivia, it’s okay, it’s okay, they’re gonna get him.” Rebecca reached out, gently pulling Olivia closer as gunshots rang through the house. Olivia screamed, tears starting to fall as other officers yelled, more shots making Olivia jump with each one. Rebecca kept muttering that ‘it’s okay’ as they were escorted out of the house by the men, being hurried into an ambulance together, the bright lights and loud sirens hurting Olivia’s head.

The entire hospital visit sort of blurred together, Olivia still and quiet for the entire duration, before finding herself walking back toward Rebecca’s house with said woman.

“-it’s not ideal, but we’ll have to stay there for the night, at least. I’ll call Sam again in the morning, try to figure out what the fu-heck is going on.” Rebecca was saying, Olivia only just tuning into her words.

Out of nowhere, Rebecca cried out in pain after a loud _thud_ noise, holding her head as she stumbled, another thud noise taking her down, unmoving and bleeding. Olivia made to run, but a quiet voice made her freeze.

“Don’t. Move.”

Olivia turned, slowly, on her heel. Dean’s bloody face stared down at her, but the manic grin was anything but him.

“Now, be a good girl and come with me, and this’ll be nice and easy.” ‘Dean’ bent down, a pipe in one hand, as he picked up Rebecca’s body, leading Olivia with the pipe against her back to the sewer cover. “Go in, get in.”

‘Dean’, once inside the sewers, forced Olivia to a chamber full of candles and chains. Piles of gross _gunk_ were all over the floor. “Stand over there, do not move. Or little Becky here won’t go easy.” Olivia agreed, standing near a large pipe. She watched as ‘Dean’ tied Rebecca up with rope, leaving her on the ground as he beckoned Olivia closer. “Sit there.” He pointed to a spot a little ways away from where Rebecca was slouched, bringing more rope over to Olivia, tying her up similarly.

“No games now, remember what I told you.” ‘Dean’ teased, stepping away as loud, unnerving cracks and snaps filled the area. Dean’s body jolted and shifted, ripping his skin off and dropping it in another pile as ‘Dean’ shifted to look like Rebecca, changing into clothes they’d probably nabbed from Rebecca’s house.

“What the…” Rebecca muttered, apparently having woken up sometime during the transformation.

“Ah ah, quiet now you two.” ‘Rebecca’ chastised, pulling two sheets out of a corner, covering Rebecca first, then Olivia. “Now, I have some business to attend to. Ciao!”

Echoing footsteps slowly disappeared, leaving the two stuck alone.

They tried to figure out a plan to escape, but the ropes were tied too well, and Olivia had left her knife; the one that Bobby had given her the last time Dean had to leave her there for a few days; on the side table when Rebecca put her to bed earlier.

Olivia had not idea how much time had passed in the dark sewers, every drip of water making her try to look around under the covering. Rebecca tried to reassure her; that they’d be fine, that someone would find them and rescue them; Olivia didn’t listen, instead trying to rack her memory for anything she could have overheard from John on what this monster could be.

_‘It looked like Dean, then ripped it’s skin off and looked like Rebecca…but it knew the safe word…’_

“Olivia? Are you okay?” Rebecca, not having heard a response in a few minutes, got worried.

“Yeah, I’m…I’m okay…” Olivia shifted, still trying to get the ropes around her wrists off. “I think it’s a shapeshifter.” She muttered, not quite meaning for Rebecca to hear her.

“A what?!”

A far off thud stopped the two talking, trying to look like they hadn’t moved in case the monster had come back. Echoing footsteps neared them, pausing every few seconds before continuing, only getting closer. Once they were in the same room, Olivia heard a shuffle, sounding like something pulled the sheet off of Rebecca.

“Rebecca?” A voice that sounded like Dean asked, another shuffle and the sheet fell off of Olivia, facing her with what looked like Dean. Olivia tried to crawl backwards, trying to hide from this ‘Dean’. “Hey, hey, kid! It’s okay, it’s me! It’s really me!”

Olivia shook her head furiously. “No, yo-you’re a shapeshifter!”

‘Dean’ sighed, reaching to a back pocket and holding up a knife, glinting in the candlelight. “Okay, okay. You know this knife, you know it’s silver.”

Olivia nodded, half-noting his necklace was missing, as ‘Dean’ turned the knife onto his arm, giving himself a small nick, no burning or excess pain. “It’s me, kiddo.”

Olivia felt her eyes burn with gathering tears, letting Dean cut her ropes before going back to Rebecca, letting Olivia hold onto his jacket. “What happened?” He asked, helping Rebecca out.

“I was walking home, and everything just went white. Someone hit me over the head, and I wound up here just in time to see that thing turn into me. I don’t know, how is that even possible?” Rebecca explained, crying.

“Okay, okay. It’s okay.” He reassured, helping Rebecca stand and picking Olivia up to carry her. “Come on, can you walk?” Dean asked Rebecca, who nodded. “Okay, we’ve gotta hurry. Sam went to see you.”

Dean lead the way out of the sewers, back to Rebecca’s house, where the group heard a struggle inside. Dean put Olivia down with Rebecca, telling them to stay out there as he ran in, pulling his gun out of his waistband. Rebecca held Olivia against her legs, both of them shaking on the sidewalk.

The two heard Dean yell, two gunshots lighting up the living room windows. Olivia tore away from Rebecca, darting into the house and into Dean’s legs, seeing Sam and the dead shifter, now again looking like Dean, laying on the floor.

Rebecca entered seconds after Olivia, immediately rushing over to Sam. Dean waved Olivia over to them, walking forward to the shifters body, ripping his necklace off of the shifters neck. He gave his siblings a knowing nod, all taking a few deep breaths.

After a little while reassuring themselves that it was over, Sam and Dean took the shifter’s body to the car, driving off to bury the thing in the middle of nowhere. Rebecca helped Olivia take a bath, to clean whatever sewer gunk they were covered in off, the two dozing in Rebecca’s room, Olivia keeping a tight grip on a silver cross Dean found in the trunk even in her sleep. When Sam and Dean got back they crashed on the couch and guest room for the night.

The next morning, their things all packed in the car again, Olivia sat on the hood of the Impala with Dean, looking over a map, though it made little sense to Olivia. Rebecca and Sam stood a few feet away, talking quietly about the whole experience. After a few minutes they hugged and Rebecca started back for the house.

“Oh, hey!” She turned pointing more toward Dean and Olivia. “Think you need to feed her more, she’s skinny as a twig!” Dean waved in response, Olivia copying as Rebecca entered her house, closing the door behind her.

“So, what about your friend, Zack?” Dean asked Sam as he got nearer the car.

“Cops are blamin’ this Dean Winchester guy for Emily’s murder. They found the murder weapon in the guy’s lair, Zack’s clothes stained with her blood. Now they’re thinking maybe the surveillance tape was tampered with. Yeah, Becca says Zack will be released soon.” Sam smiled, turning to his door.

Dean rolled his eyes, helping Olivia down and giving her a once over. “Ya know, she’s right. Think you’re growing again, sprout.”

“Really? Think I’ll be as tall as Sam?” Olivia asked, letting Dean help her over to her door and into the car.

“Oh, taller. Definitely.” Sam nodded with a grin.

Dean snorted, shutting her door to get into his seat, turning on the engine and quickly pealing down the road.

A little while into driving, Dean suddenly spoke up. “Sorry, man.”

“About what?” Sam turned to Dean.

“I really wish things could be different, you know? I wish you could just be….Joe College.”

“No, that’s okay. You know, the truth is, even at Stanford, deep down, I never really fit in.”

“Well, that’s ‘cause you’re a freak.”

"Yeah, thanks."

“Well, I’m a freak, too. I’m right there with ya, all the way.”

Sam laughed, getting Olivia to grin.

“Yeah, I know you are.”

“Can I be a freak too, D?” Olivia bounced in her seat, Sam looking over the seat, looking her over.

“I think you qualify, right?”

“Damn straight, princess.” Dean gave her a grin in the rearview mirror. Turning back to the road, Dean half-sighed. “But you know, I gotta say—I’m sorry I’m gonna miss it.”

“Miss what?” Sam asked, his smile drooping.

“How many chances am I gonna have to see my own funeral?” Dean joked, getting smiles all around the car as they roared out of St. Louis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Kudos/Comments are appreciated and inherently loved. <3  
> Next episode: Home


	6. Home

Weeks later, after a run-in with an over-protective ghost in Iowa and an ancient curse of bugs (that still made Olivia’s skin crawl if she thought about it too long) in Oklahoma, the Winchester siblings found themselves in a motel room near the Colorado-Kansas border. Sam’s nightmares had been getting worse, waking him up more often and more violently. One morning, after one such awakening, Sam was sitting on one of the beds with a notepad, sketching something, while Dean was on the computer researching hunts. Olivia was seated next to Dean, working on one of those preschool learning activity books Sam found in a bookstore on their travels.

“All right. I’ve been cruisin’ some websites. I think I found a few candidates for our next gig. A fishing trawler found off the coast of Cali –- its crew vanished. And, uh, we got some cattle mutilations in West Texas.” With no response from Sam, Dean looked up at him. “Hey. Am I boring you with this hunting evil stuff?” He asked, once Sam finally looked up from the paper, if only for a second.

“No. I’m listening. Keep going.” Sam insisted, eyes once more trained on the notepad. Dean, rolling his eyes at Olivia, got a giggle. He turned back to the screen, flicking his eyes back up to Sam every few words.

“And, here, a Sacramento man shot himself in the head. Three times.” No response. Dean waved his hand at Sam’s face. “Any of these things blowin’ up your skirt, pal?”

“…wait. I’ve seen this.” Sam mumbled, getting up from his seat.

“Seen what?” Dean tried to ask, but Sam ignored them, frantically searching through his duffel bag. “What are you doing?”

“Sammy?” Olivia tried, but Sam still ignored them, pulling out a small, wrinkled piece of paper. Holding that and the notepad next to each other, he seemed satisfied after a second.

“Dean, I know where we have to go next.”

“Where?”

“Back home – back to Kansas.”

“Okay, random. Where’d that come from?”

Sam showed Dean and Olivia the thing he’d found; a picture of a woman with a baby in her arms. “All right, um, this photo was taken in front of our old house, right? The house where Mom died?”

“Yeah?” Dean asked, looking it over

“And it didn’t burn down, right? I mean, not completely, they rebuilt it, right?”

Olivia looked between the two, confused. Dean never really talked about their mom, and John refused to entertain the topic before. She only knew their mom had died from some monster, so why were they talking about a fire?

“I guess so, yeah. What the hell are you talkin’ about?” Dean asked Sam.

“Okay, look, this is gonna sound crazy but...the people who live in our old house – I think they might be in danger.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Uh…it’s just, um…look, just trust me on this, okay?” Sam huffed, walking away from the two. Dean stood, following behind.

“Wait, whoa, whoa, trust you?”

“Yeah.”

“Come on, man, that’s weak. You gotta give me a little bit more than that.”

“I can’t really explain it is all.”

“Well, tough. We’re not goin’ anywhere until you do.” Dean stopped, crossing his arms. Olivia copied him, still at the table.

Sam sighed, dropping his head to avoid eye-contact. “I have these nightmares.”

Dean nodded. “We’ve noticed.”

“And sometimes…they come true.”

“…come again?”

“Look, Dean…I dreamt about Jessica’s death –- for days before it happened.”

“Sam, people have weird dreams, man. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.” Dean tried to insist, taking a seat on one of the beds.

“No, I dreamt about the blood dripping, her on the ceiling, the fire, everything, and I didn’t do anything about it ‘cause I didn’t believe it. And now I’m dreaming about that tree, about our house, and about some woman inside screaming for help. I mean, that’s where it all started, man, this has to mean something, right?” Sam snapped back, gesturing to his notepad and the picture.

“I don’t know.” Dean admitted after a minute of loud silence.

Sam took a seat on the opposite bed from Dean. “What do you mean you don’t know, Dean? This woman might be in danger. I mean, this might even be the thing that killed Mom and Jessica!”

“All right, just slow down, would ya?” Dean stood and started pacing the room. “I mean, first you tell me that you’ve got the Shining? And then you tell me that I’ve gotta go back home? Especially when….”

“…when what?”

“When I swore to myself that I would never go back there?” Dean finally admitted.

“Look, Dean, we have to check this out. Just to make sure.” Sam reminded him, his voice quieter and softer now.

“…I know we do.” Dean gave in, starting to pack his bags. “Liv, c’mon start packin’.”

It took until the next day for them to reach Lawrence, Kansas, Sam and Dean’s old neighborhood slowly coming together into view. Slowly, their old street, then their old house. Dean stopped along the road, staring up at the building like it scared him.

“Hey, you gonna be all right, man?” Sam asked him, the engine turning off.

“Let me get back to you on that.” Dean pocketed the keys, the three getting out of the car. “Hey, kid, c’mere.” He waved Olivia over, picking her up and putting her on his hip. “You’re sticking with me or Sam, you don’t go off on your own here. Capisce?”

“Uh…yes?” Olivia titled her head in confusion, but assumed she got the right answer when Dean nodded.

Walking up to the house, Sam knocked on the door, waiting for a moment before a woman answered the door, seeming to take Sam aback.

“Yes?” She asked, looking between the three.

“Sorry to bother you, ma’am, but we’re with the Fed-“

“I’m Sam Winchester, and this is my brother, Dean, and our sister, Olivia. We used to live here. You know, we were just drivin’ by, and we were wondering if we could come see the old place.” Sam cut him off, Dean shifting, annoyed.

“Winchester. Yeah, that’s so funny. You know, I think I found some of your photos the other night.”

“You did?” Dean asked, and the woman nodded, stepping aside.

“Come on in.”

Entering the house, the woman lead them to the kitchen; a young girl was at a table doing what looked like homework and a toddler jumping in his playpen, chanting the word ‘juice’.

“That’s Ritchie. He’s kind of a juice junkie.” She pulled a sippy cup out of the fridge, handing it to Ritchie. “Hey, at least he won’t get scurvy.” She stepped over to the girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Sari, this is Sam, Dean, and Olivia. They used to live here.”

“Hi.” Sari half-waved, Olivia copying slowly. Dean waved back as well.

“Hey, Sari.” Sam greeted.

“So, you just moved in?” Dean asked.

“Yeah, from Wichita.”

“You got family here, or…?”

“No, I, uh…needed a fresh start, that’s all. So, new town, new job – I mean, as soon as I find one. New house.”

“So, how you likin’ it so far?” Sam asked.

“Well, uh, all due respect to your childhood home – I mean, I’m sure you had lots of happy memories here.” Dean gave Jenny a weak smile. “But this place has its issues.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just getting old. Like the wiring, you know? We get flickering lights almost hourly.

“Oh, that’s too bad. What else?” Dean cocked his head.

“Um…sink’s backed up, there’s rats in the basement…I’m sorry. I don’t mean to complain.” Jenny apologized.

“No, it’s fine. Have you seen the rats or just heard the scratching?”

“It’s just the scratching, actually.” Jenny admitted.

“Mom?” Sari asked, Jenny kneeling down next to her. “Ask them if it was here when they lived here.”

“What, Sari?” Sam asked.

“The thing in my closet.”

“Oh, no, baby, there was nothing in their closets. Right” Jenny turned to the siblings, who all shook their heads.

“Right. No, no, of course not.” Sam reassured.

“She had a nightmare the other night.” Jenny stood again.

“I wasn’t dreaming. It came into my bedroom – and it was on fire.” Sari insisted.

Sam and Dean exchanged looks, raised eyebrows on both of them. They quickly said their goodbyes, going back to the car.

“You hear that? A figure on fire.” Sam near gloated.

“And that woman, Jenny, that was the woman in your dreams?” Dean asked, setting Olivia down on the walkway.

“Yeah. And you hear what she was talking about? Scratching, flickering lights, both signs of a malevolent spirit.”

“Yeah, well, I’m just freaked out that your weirdo visions are comin’ true.”

“Forget about that for a minute. The thing in the house, do you think it’s the thing that killed Mom and Jessica?” Sam asked, his pitch rising with panic.

“I don’t know!”

“Well, I mean, has it come back or has it been here the whole time?”

“Or maybe it’s something else entirely, Sam, we don’t know yet.” Dean pointed out.

“Well, those people are in danger, Dean. We have to get ‘em out of that house.”

“And we will.”

“No, I mean now.”

“And how you gonna do that, huh? You got a story that she’s gonna believe?” Dean retorted.

“Then what are we supposed to do?”

Dean rolled his eyes, gesturing for Sam to get in the car, waiting for both Sam and Olivia to be in their seats to turn the engine. “We just gotta chill out, that’s all. You know, if this was any other kind of job, what would we do?””

Sam sighed. “We’d try to figure out what we were dealin’ with. We’d dig into the history of the house.”

“Exactly, except this time, we already know what happened.”

“Yeah, but how much do we know? I mean, how much do you actually remember?”

“About that night, you mean?” Dean gave Sam a side glance.

“Yeah.”

“Not much. I remember the fire…the heat…and then I carried you out the front door.” Dean recounted, talking slowly.

“You did?”

“Yeah. What, you never knew that?”

Sam shook his head, “No.”

“And, well, you know Dad’s story as well as I do. Mom was…was on the ceiling. And whatever put her there was long gone by the time Dad found her.” Dean continued, shooting wary looks in the rearview mirror at Olivia.

“And he never had a theory about what did it?” Sam asked as they pulled up outside of a gas station.

“If he did, he kept it to himself. God knows we asked him enough times, Olivia included.”

“Okay,” Sam looked over his shoulder at her, “So, if we’re gonna figure out what’s goin’ on now…we have to figure out what happened back then. And see if it’s the same thing.”

“Yeah. We talk to Dad’s friends, neighbors, people who were around then.” Olivia nodded when Dean said nothing, merely nodding.

“…does this feel like just another job to you, Dean?” Sam asked.

Dean hesitated, leading the way out of the car. “I’ll be right back. I gotta go to the bathroom. Kid, stick with Sammy.” Dean waved between the two, walking away and turning the corner.

Olivia hurried around the car to Sam, grabbing his hand in both of hers. “Sammy, is D gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, course he will be. It’s Dean, after all.” Sam tried to reassure, staring after Dean. “C’mon, let’s grab some snacks while he’s gone.”

* * *

After the gas station, Dean drove them to John’s old work; Guenther’s Auto Repair. Sam and Dean went in alone, making sure Olivia would be alright on her own for a few minutes before going inside. When they returned, they explained John had apparently been talking about psychics before he packed up the boys and left, but no one knew a name. Dean managed to find a payphone, a phonebook inside. Sam got out to flip through the book, scanning for a section on psychics and the like.

“All right, so there are a few psychics and palm readers in town. There’s someone named El Divino. There’s uh,” he laughed, “there’s the Mysterious Mister Fortinsky. Uh, Missouri Moseley—"

“Wait, wait. Missouri Moseley?” Dean cut him off.

“What?”

“That’s a psychic?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess so.”

Dean turned back to Olivia in the backseat. “Hey, grab me Dad’s journal, will ya kid?”

Olivia nodded, pulling the book out and handing it over the front seat back. Dean flipped to the front page.

“First page, first sentence, read that.” Dean pointed to the line, handing Sam the book.

“I went to Missouri and I learned the truth.” Sam read, his eyes scanning the page.

“I always thought he meant the state.” Dean shrugged, taking the book back. Sam scribbled down Missouri’s address, the siblings heading for the house.

Once they’d arrived, they were shown into a sort of waiting area, sitting together on a couch, waiting while Missouri finished her current appointment. After a few minutes, Missouri lead her current appointment to the front door. “All right, there. Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing. Your wife is crazy about you.”

The man thanked her, leaving the house. Missouri closed the door behind him, turning to the siblings with a sigh. “Poor bastard. His woman’s cold-bangin’ the gardener.”

“Why didn’t you tell him?” Dean asked, standing with Sam from the couch, picking Olivia up onto his hip again.

“People don’t come here for the truth. They come for good news.” The siblings stared her for a second. “Well? Sam, Dean, Olivia, come on already, I ain’t got all day.” Missouri walked farther into the house.

The three shared a look, confused, before following her into another room.

“Well, lemme look at ya.” Missouri looked Sam and Dean over, chuckling. “Oh, you boys grew up handsome.” She pointed at Dean. “And you were one goofy-lookin’ kid, too.” She gave Olivia a grin. “But you are just adorable, aren’t cha?” Sam smirked, Dean glaring at him. Missouri took Sam’s hand. “Sam…oh, honey…I’m sorry about your girlfriend…and your father – he’s missin’?”

“How’d you know all that?” Sam asked her.

“Well, you were just thinkin’ it just now.” Missouri sounded as though that should have been obvious.

Sam raised his eyebrows, shocked.

“Well, where is he? Is he okay?” Dean asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t know? Well, you’re supposed to be a psychic, right?”

“Boy, you see me sawin’ some bony tramp in half? You think I’m a magician? I may be able to read thoughts and sense energies in a room, but I can’t just pull facts out of thin air. Sit, please.”

Sam smirked at Dean, Olivia copying as they sat on a couch.

“Boy, you put your foot on my coffee table, I’mma whack you with a spoon!” Missouri suddenly snapped, staring Dean down.

“I didn’t do anything!” Dean whined.

“But you were thinkin’ about it.”

Dean raised his eyebrows as Olivia giggled, Sam’s smirk widening to a smile.

“Okay. So, our dad – when did you first meet him?” Sam asked.

“He came for a reading. A few days after the fire. I just told him what was really out there in the dark. I guess you could say…I drew back the curtains for him.”

“What about the fire? Do you know about what killed our mom?” Dean asked.

“A little. Your daddy took me to your house. He was hopin’ I could sense the echoes, the fingerprints of this thing.”

“And could you?” Sam’s voice had a slight hopeful lilt.

“I…” Missouri shook her head, looking downtrodden.

“What was it?”

“I don’t know.” Missouri’s voice turned soft, maybe a little scared? “Oh, but it was evil.”

* * *

The siblings went on to explain their thoughts about the house, what Jenny had told them, and whatever other information they could think was important.

“So…you think somethin’ is back in that house?” Missouri asked, most of the information out.

“Definitely.” Sam nodded.

“I don’t understand.”

“What?”

“I haven’t been back inside, but I’ve been keepin’ an eye on the place, and it’s been quiet. No sudden deaths, no freak accidents. Why is it actin’ up now?”

“I don’t know. But Dad going missing and Jessica dying and now this house all happening at once…it just feels like something’s starting.”

“That’s a comforting thought.” Dean grumbled.

The four agreed to go back to the house to let Missouri walk through, if Jenny allowed them that is. They drove back in the Impala, this time Sam taking Olivia on his hip up to the front door. Dean knocked and they waited a few minutes before Jenny opened the door, looking a little frazzled.

“Hey, Jenny. This is our friend, Missouri.” Sam introduced, Jenny’s eyes darting around the group.

“If it’s not too much trouble, we were hoping to show her the old house. You know, for old time’s sake.” Dean asked.

“You know, this isn’t a good time. I’m kind of busy.” Jenny deflected.

“Listen, Jenny, it’s important.” Dean tried to insist. Missouri, in response, whacked Dean on the back of his head. “Ow!”

“Give the poor girl a break, can’t you see she’s upset?” Missouri reprimanded, turning to Jenny. “Forgive this boy, he means well, he’s just not the sharpest tool in the shed, but hear me out.”

“About what?” Jenny asked.

“About this house.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think you know what I’m talking about. You think there’s something in this house, something that wants to hurt your family. Am I mistaken?”

“…who are you?” Jenny asked, incredulous.

“We’re people who can help, who can stop this thing. But you’re gonna have to trust us, just a little.”

Jenny, though unsure, quickly relented, allowing the group entry into the house. Missouri, almost immediately, lead the siblings into Sari’s bedroom.

“If there’s a dark energy around here, this room should be the center of it.” Missouri announced, looking around.

“Why?” Sam asked, shifting his hold on Olivia.

“This used to be your nursey, Sam. This is where it all happened.” Missouri kept looking around, Sam and Olivia looking up at the ceiling, as though there was still something there, visible behind fresh paint. Dean reached into his jacket, pulling out a small electric box. “That an EMF?” Missouri asked him.

“Yeah.”

“Amateur.” Missouri joked, Dean glaring at her. Dean nudged Sam, showing the two the frantically beeping of the EMF.

“I don’t know if you boys should be disappointed or relieved, but this ain’t the thing that took your mom.” Missouri eventually told them.

“Wait, are you sure?” Sam asked her, getting a nod. “How do you know?”

“It isn’t the same energy I felt the last time I was here. It’s somethin’ different.”

“What is it?” Dean asked.

“Not it.” Missouri moved closer to the closet, opening the doors. “Them. There’s more than one spirit in this place.”

“What are they doing here?”

“They’re here because of what happened to your family. You see, all those years ago, real evil came to you. It walked this house. That kind of evil leaves wounds. And sometimes, wounds get infected.”

“I don’t understand.” Sam admitted.

“This place is a magnet for paranormal energy. It’s attracted a poltergeist. A nasty one. And it won’t rest until Jenny and her babies are dead.”

“You said there was more than one spirit.”

“There is. I just can’t quite make out the second one.”

“Well, one thing’s for damn sure – nobody’s dyin’ in this house ever again. So, whatever is here, how do we stop it?” Dean asked.

With the promise to return quickly, Missouri took the siblings back to her house, gathering herbs and roots of several types.

“What is all this stuff?” Olivia asked, kneeling on one of the dining chairs.

“Angelica Root, Van Van oil, crossroad dirt, and a few other odds and ends.” Missouri explained.

“What are we supposed to do with it?” Dean asked.

“We’re gonna put them inside the walls in the north, south, east and west corners on each floor of the house.”

“We’ll be punchin’ holes in the dry wall. Jenny’s gonna love that.” Dean snarked.

“She’ll live.” Missouri snarked back.

“And this’ll destroy the spirits?” Sam asked, cutting off the two.

“It should. It should purify the house completely. We’ll each take a floor. But we work fast. Once the spirits realize what we’re up to, things are gonna get bad.” Missouri warned.

The group finished the herb bags, hurrying back to the house. In the car, Sam looked over the seat at Olivia. “Hey, Olivia, we’re gonna need Jenny and her kids out of the house while we do this. You okay to go with them?”

Olivia hesitated, not wanting to be away from Sam and Dean again, since it had gone so well back in St. Louis.

“Kid.” Dean caught her attention. “We’ll need your help, make sure nothing follows them out of the house, okay? We need you to keep them safe while we get the house sorted.”

Now, with a real purpose to splitting up, Olivia nodded, face scrunching in seriousness.

Once back at the house, they vaguely explained the plan to Jenny, who got Sari and Ritchie ready to go out for a bit. Missouri walked them out, after Olivia gave Sam and Dean tight hugs.

“Look, I’m not sure I’m comfortable leaving you guys here alone.” Jenny told Missouri.

“Just take the kids to the movies or somethin’, and it’ll be over by the time you get back.” Missouri reassured her, going back inside when Jenny had the kids all in her car, driving down the street.

Jenny took the three to the nearby theaters, getting tickets for some new kid movie that had come out a few days prior.

“What’s a _Zathura_?” Olivia asked, keeping up with the group.

“I don’t know.” Sari shrugged. “Mommy said it sounds similar to some movie called Ju…Ju…”

“ _Jumanji_.” Jenny corrected, getting snacks and drinks for them all, taking the kids into the theater. Jenny took one end, Ritchie next to her, then Sari and Olivia took the other end of their group. Olivia kept her guard up for most of the movie, making sure nothing too weird was happening around them.

After the movie, just to make sure there was enough time, Jenny took the kids to a local ice cream parlor, casting worried looks at her watch.

“Don’t worry, they know what they’re doing.” Olivia reassured her, patting her leg gently.

Once all the ice cream was eaten, and mostly cleaned off of Ritchie’s face, Jenny drove them all back to the house. Most of the lights were off, but the Impala was still outside. Jenny lead them up the walk, Ritchie mostly asleep on her shoulder.

“Hello? We’re back.” She called, going to the kitchen, looking around; several holes were punched into the walls and a couple of appliances were broken. “What happened?”

“Hi, sorry. Um, we’ll pay for all of this.” Sam offered, Olivia running up to Dean to hug onto his legs.

“Don’t you worry. Dean’s gonna clean up this mess.” Missouri told Jenny, though Dean didn’t move. “Well, what are you waiting for, boy? Get the mop.” Dean started to walk away, passing Olivia to Sam. “And don’t cuss at me!” Missouri reprimanded, Dean muttering under his breath.

After a little while of cleaning, Missouri and the siblings left the house, waving at Jenny as she closed the door behind them. They drove Missouri home, getting food before going back to the house at Sam’s insistence.

“All right, so, tell me again, what are we still doin’ here?” Dean asked after a bit, looking over at Sam.

“I don’t know. I just…I still have a bad feeling.” Sam tried to shrug it off.

“Why? Missouri did her whole Zelda Rubenstein thing. The house should be clean, it should be over.”

“Yeah, well, probably. But I just wanna make sure, that’s all.”

“Yeah, well, problem is I could be sleeping in a bed right now.” Dean huffed, sliding down in his seat to close his eyes.

Sam rolled his eyes at a mostly asleep Olivia, before turning back to the window, freezing.

“Dean. Look, Dean!” Sam shook Dean by his jacket, pointing to a large window on the front of the second floor; Jenny was at the window in her pajamas, screaming.

“Shit, you guys grab the kids, I’ll get Jenny!” Dean told them, Olivia running with Sam.

“Olivia, you go to Sari, I’ll get Ritchie first!” Sam told her, barreling into the younger boy’s room as Olivia ran into Sari’s.

Inside Sari’s open closet doors was a figure made out of fire. Sari, on her bed, was screaming for help.

Olivia ran over to her, pulling her by the arm out of the room. They met Sam just outside in the hall and he had them run a head of him, Ritchie in one arm. Once on the first floor, Sam paused, kneeling to the girls. “All right, Sari, take your brother outside as fast as you can, and don’t look back. Oli go with them!” He told them, just as an invisible force made him fall to the floor, dragging him into a different room.

“C’mon!” Olivia ran out of the house with them, barreling right into Dean, who kneeled.

“Babygirl, where’s Sammy?”

“He’s inside.” Sari told him.

“Something got him.” Olivia explained, Dean shooting a panicked look at the front door, which slammed shut on its own.

“Shit, Oli, go with Jenny.” Dean half-pushed Olivia toward Jenny, crying over her own kids, going over to the Impala. He came back over seconds later, an axe in one hand and a rifle in the other. Using the axe to break the door down enough to get inside, he ducked inside, Olivia quickly running in after, despite Jenny calling her back.

Olivia could hear Dean calling for Sam, following the voice to the kitchen.

“Sam!” Dean yelled, aiming at the fire figure from Sari’s room. Sam was unmoving, pinned to a wall.

“No, don’t! Don’t!” Sam told him.

“What, why?”

“Because I know who it is. I can see her now.”

The fire suddenly vanished, leaving a familiar looking older blonde woman in its place.

Dean lowered his gun, his expression softening. “Mom?” His voice was quiet, barely loud enough for Olivia to hear.

Their mother, Mary, stepped closer to him.

“Dean.” She smiled, stepping over to Sam after a second, Dean’s eyes trailing after her. “Sam,” Sam smiled weakly, tears falling. “…I’m sorry.” Mary finally said.

“For what?” Sam tried to ask, but she just smiled at him, now looking sad. She walked away from them, looking up at the ceiling.

“You get out of my house. And let go of my son.” Mary, again, burst into flames. Once she was entirely engulfed, the fire reached the ceiling and disappeared. Sam fell to the floor, walking over to Dean, Olivia running over.

“Now it’s over.” Sam nodded at the two.

The siblings stayed the night, half-sleeping on the couches in the living room, just to make sure nothing else tried anything. The next morning, they called Missouri back over to make doubly sure. While she walked through with Sam, Dean and Olivia were by the car with Jenny, looking through the photo’s Jenny had found. Olivia, sitting on the hood, craned her neck up to look over Dean’s arm.

“Thanks for these.” Dean told Jenny.

“Don’t thank me, they’re yours.” She responded.

Dean put the box of photo’s in the car, ruffling Olivia’s hair. She noticed Missouri and Sam coming out of the house and slithered off the car, running over to Sam.

“Well, there are no spirits in there anymore, this time for sure.” Missouri was saying as Olivia ran up.

“Not even my mom?” Sam asked her, pulling Olivia up.

“No.” Missouri shook her head, looking sorry.

“What happened?” Olivia asked.

“Their mom’s spirit and the poltergeist’s energy, they cancelled each other out. She destroyed herself goin’ after the thing.” Missouri explained.

“Why would she do something like that?” Sam asked her.

“Well, to protect her boys, of course.”

Sam nodded, tears gathering in his eyes. Missouri reached out but stopped before touching his shoulder.

“Sam, I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“You sensed it was here, didn’t you? Even when I couldn’t.”

“…what’s happening to me?” Sam asked.

“I know I should have all the answers…but I don’t know.” Missouri admitted.

“Sam, you ready?” Dean called, pocketing a bit of paper from Jenny. Sam nodded, carrying Olivia back to the car. Jenny thanked them again, stepping back.

Missouri tucked a bit of hair behind Olivia’s ear, pausing. “You be sure to keep an eye on those boys, got it sweetheart?”

Olivia nodded, beaming. Missouri nodded back, though her smile seemed a bit uneasy.

“Don’t you kids be strangers!” Missouri told them.

“We won’t.” Dean agreed.

“See you around.” Missouri and Jenny waved them off, smiling as the siblings piled into the car, driving off.

* * *

“So, uh…what was that paper Jenny gave you?” Sam asked, a little while into the ride.

“Oh, she uh…” Dean peeked in the rearview mirror at Olivia, who was fast asleep. “She said Olivia looks pretty skinny, enough it worried her. Said there’s this, like, smoothie thing we can get that should help her gain a bit of weight.” Dean explained, pulling the folded-up paper out of his pocket.

Sam looked over the back of the seat, looking Olivia over. “I mean, she is a bit thin, but…I wouldn’t say she’s that bad.”

“Well, the woman with kids disagrees.” Dean tucked the paper back into his pocket. “I just…I wanna do it right with Olivia. Don’t wanna screw up the kid if I can help it.”

“Hey, man, I get it. I’m all for it, just…” Sam trailed off, words evading him. The conversation died, but both brothers kept an eye out for a store that might have the drinks Jenny mentioned.

* * *

_~Meanwhile~_

Back at her own house, Missouri closed the door behind her as she set her purse on the table.

“That boy…he has such powerful abilities. But why he couldn’t sense his own father, I have no idea.” She said, turning to her couch, John Winchester sitting on it.

“Mary’s spirit…do you really think she saved the kids?” He asked her.

“I do.” Missouri nodded, John copying, much sadder.

He twisted his wedding ring on his finger. “And Olivia?”

“Good, but…I fear you were right.” Missouri told him, looking him up and down. “John Winchester, I could just slap you. Why won’t you go talk to your children?”

“I want to. You have no idea how much I wanna see ‘em.” John agreed, tearfully. “But I can’t. Not yet. Not until I know the truth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this chapter, let me know!  
> Next up: Faith


	7. Faith

Olivia, half-asleep in her seat, leaned out of the window as Sam and Dean got weapons for their current monster hunt. It had taken two kids, not far from Olivia’s age, and they’d managed to track the monster to this abandoned house.

Dean pulled out two tasers, handing one to Sam.

“What do you got those amped up to?” Sam asked him, looking it over.

“Hundred thousand volts.” Dean’s voice sounded a bit more nonchalant than you’d expect.

“Damn.”

“Yeah, I want this rawhead extra frickin’ crispy. And remember, you only get one shit with these things. So, make it count.”

“Yeah.”

“And you, lil lady, if we send those kids up ahead in case we take a little long, you gotta make sure they stay safe till we get done with this freak.” Dean pointed a finger at Olivia, tweaking her nose as she nodded.

The boys hurried quietly into the house, Olivia now a bit more awake as she kept her eyes wide open, darting around the dark house and the surrounding area; in case of more monsters or police.

Yells and screams had her eyes darting back to the door her brothers had entered moments ago. A handful of seconds passed, and Sam exited, two kids in his arms. He put them down, pointing to Olivia in the car, telling them to run in with her. Olivia opened the door, helping the two in as Sam ran back in, probably to help Dean finish the monster off.

A while passed before Sam came back out, dragging Dean with him. Dean didn’t appear awake at all, flopping around in Sam’s grasp. Climbing over the bench to the front, Olivia opened the passenger door for Sam, helping as she could to get him in. Sam ran around the car, flooring it away from the house.

“Sammy? Sammy, what happened to D?” Olivia asked, when Dean was still unresponsive.

“He got hurt. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. We just gotta…get him to the hospital.” Sam tried to reassure her, flicking his gaze to the two in the back. “You two okay?”

The kids nodded, still crying.

“Okay, it’s okay, it’ll be okay.” Sam rambled, trying to calm the three children and himself as he tore down the roads.

* * *

Hours had passed in the hospital. The police had come, picking up the two children, once they’d been checked for injuries, to take them home and get Sam’s statement. Olivia, mostly asleep in Sam’s arms, gently played with his jacket as he stared at the receptionist desk.

“Sir, I’m so sorry to ask. There doesn’t seem to be any insurance on file.” The receptionist winced, catching Sam’s attention

“Right. Uh, okay.” Sam gently shifted his grip on Olivia, pulling out his wallet to hand her a card.

The receptionist glanced at the card. “Okay, Mr. Burkovitz.”

Sam looked to his side, walking away from the desk, approaching the two cops still standing around.

“Look, we can finish this up later.” One offered.

“No, no, it’s okay. We were just taking a shortcut through the neighborhood. And, uh, the windows were rolled down, we heard some screaming when we drove past the house, and we stopped. Ran in.” Sam explained their story. Olivia sleepily nodded against his collar.

“And you found the kids in the basement?” The cop asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well, thank God you did.”

Sam turned his head, looking back at the cops. “Excuse me.”

“Sure. Thanks for your help.”

Sam took a few steps away from the cops, jostling Olivia enough to make her open her eyes. “Hey, Doc. Is he…?”

“He’s resting.” The doctor told the two.

“And?”

“The electrocution triggered a heart attack. Pretty massive, I’m afraid. His heart…it’s damaged.”

“How damaged?”

“We’ve done all we can. We can try and keep him comfortable at this point. But…I’d give him a couple weeks, at most, maybe a month.”

“No, no. There’s, there’s…gotta be _something_ you can do, some kind of treatment.”

“We can't work miracles. I really am sorry.”

Olivia rubbed her eyes as Sam walked away, toward where they’d been told Dean’s room was. “Sammy, is…is D gonna-?”

“He’ll be fine, kiddo. Promise.” Sam told her, his voice thick. 

* * *

Seeing as Dean was still asleep, Sam took Olivia back to the car for her backpack, tucking a bottle of Pediasure (the smoothies Jenny had recommended to them) into the side pocket for her to drink in the waiting room. After a while of sitting, a nurse came out to tell the two that Dean was awake. Sam thanked her and turned to Olivia.

“Okay, bug, I’m gonna go check in on Dean really quick. Stay right here and don’t go anywhere, alright?”

“Can’t I come with to see D?” Olivia pouted.

“I don’t know how up to visitors he’ll be. Remember, he’s probably really tired from everything. I’m just gonna poke my head in to check on him, then we’ll probably go to a motel, ‘cause you-” he tweaked her nose, “need some rest.”

Olivia pouted, but nodded anyway, turning back to her activity book.

Sam stood, quickly asking the receptionist to keep an eye on Olivia for him for a few minutes. She was more than okay with it, peering over her screen at Olivia as Sam disappeared behind doors to the rooms.

Olivia got through half of the bottle and a page and a half of the book when Sam came back. He seemed somehow more upset than earlier as he helped Olivia pack back up, carrying her out to the car.

* * *

Olivia had fallen asleep in the motel room not long after they’d arrived, curled into a ball under the covers. Sam, between checking she was still asleep and looking through pages upon pages of heart care on the other bed, pulled out his phone. Dialing the number, he listened to it ring a few times.

 _“This is John Winchester. I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son, Dean. 866-907-3235. He can help.”_ John’s voicemail almost felt like it was taunting Sam.

“Hey, Dad. It's Sam. Uh...you probably won't even get this, but, uh...it's Dean. He's sick, and uh...the doctors say there's nothing they can do. Um...but, uh, they don't know the things we know, right? So, don't worry, cause I'm uh...gonna do whatever it takes to get him better. Alright...just wanted you to know.” Sam hung up, tossing the phone onto the bed, staring at the papers, lost.

A knock on the motel door startled Sam, Olivia shuffling in the bed in her sleep. Sam got up, sneaking to the door, opening it slowly. Seeing who was outside, he opened it fully.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“I checked myself out.” Dean grinned, still looking terrible as he had in the hospital room.

“What, are you crazy?”

Dean hobbled past him, leaning on anything he could. He peered at Olivia, seeing her still asleep. “Well, I’m not gonna die in a hospital where the nurses aren’t even hot.” He shrugged.

Sam huffed, shutting the door. “You know, this whole I-laugh-in-the-face-of-death thing? It’s crap. I can see right through it.”

“Yeah, whatever, dude. Have you even slept? You look worse than me.”

“I’ve been scouring the internet for the last three days. Calling every contact in Dad’s journal.”

“For what?”

“For a way to help you. One of Dad’s friends, Joshua, he called me back. Told me about a guy in Nebraska.”

“…you’re not gonna let me die in peace, are you?” Dean asked, voice incredibly tired.

“I’m not gonna let you die, period. We’re going.” Sam insisted.

With their voices just loud enough, Olivia slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. “S’mmy, where are we going?” She asked looking over. She instantly perked up seeing Dean. “D! I thought you were still sick!” She hopped out of the bed, running over to perch her head on his knee.

Dean, still exhausted, gave her as best of a grin as he could manage, ruffling her hair. “You kidding me? Nothing like that can keep me down, Princess, you know that.”

* * *

The siblings drove near nonstop to Nebraska, finally arriving at their next destination, the Impala bumping along a rutted gravel road as they approached a large white circus tent set up in a field. Avoiding the masses making their way to the tent, Sam parked the car, getting out to run around and help Dean. Olivia hopped out, waiting by the doors as Dean opened his, looking around with wildly confused eyes. His eyes caught a sign next to the tent; _The Church of Roy LeGrange. Faith Healer. Witness the Miracle._

Dean tried to stand, Sam quickly ducking to help. “I got ya.” Sam muttered.

Dean shoved him off. “I got it.” He grumbled. “Man, you are a lying bastard. Thought you said we were going to see a doctor.”

“I believe I said a specialist.” Sam countered as Olivia nodded, taking Dean’s hand as they started for the tent. “Look, Dean, this guy’s supposed to be the real deal.”

“I can’t believe you brought me here to see some guy who heals people out of a tent.”

“Reverend LeGrange is a great man.” An elderly woman reprimanded, passing the siblings, an umbrella in hand.

“Yeah, that’s nice.” Dean fake-smiled at her. He dropped it the instant she passed by.

The three then passed an angry cop arguing with a cop.

“I have a right to protest. This man is a fraud. And he’s milking all these people out of their hard-earned money.” He insisted, a handful of leaflets fluttering in his grasp with the wind.

“Sir, this is a place of worship. Let’s go, move it.” The cop pulled him away. Olivia’s eyes tracked them as they continued to the tent.

“Take it he’s not part of the flock.” Dean mumbled.

“But when people see something they can’t explain, there’s controversy.”

“I mean, come on, Sam, a faith healer?”

“Maybe it’s time to have a little faith, Dean.”

“You know what I’ve got faith in? _Reality_. Knowing what’s really going on.” Dean groused.

“How can you be a skeptic? With the things we see every day?”

“Exactly. We see them, we know they’re real.”

“But if you know evil’s out there, how can you not believe good’s out there, too?”

“Because I’ve seen what evil does to good people.” Dean grumbled back.

“Maybe God works in mysterious ways.” A young woman replied, overhearing the two bicker.

Dean turned, looking her up and down with a grin. “Maybe he does. I think you just turned me around on the subject.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” She chuckled with a smile.

Dean held out his free hand to her. “I’m Dean. This is Sam and Olivia.” Olivia waved, the woman waving back as she took Dean’s hand.

“Layla. So, if you’re not a believer, then why are you here?”

“Well, apparently my brother here believes enough for all of us.”

Before Layla could reply, an older woman came up, putting her arm around Layla. “Come on, Layla. It’s about to start.” The two women smiled at the siblings, ducking inside the tent.

“…well, I bet you she can work in some mysterious ways.” Dean muttered, staring after Layla.

“Dean!” Sam huffed, Olivia looking between the two confused.

Dean cleared his throat, the three going inside the tent. The sign they passed at the entrance read _Welcome All Faiths. True Believers Revival._

The inside of the tent is full of people finding seats, a small stage at the front with a lectern holding candles.

Dean looked around, tilting his head to the corner. “Yeah, peace, love and trust all over.”

Following his gaze, Sam sees the security camera Dean was talking about. Dean tries to take a seat, but Sam put an arm around him, moving them all to the front. “Come on.”

“Don’t! What are you doing? Let’s sit here.” Dean tried to insist.

“We’re sitting up front.”

“What? Why?”

“Come on.”

Dean growled, upset. “Oh, come on, Sam.”

“You alright?”

“This is ridiculous.” Dean slapped Sam’s hands off of him. “I’m good, dude, get off of me.”

Sam backed off, pointing to two empty seats behind Layla and the other woman from earlier, probably family. “Perfect.”

“Yeah, perfect.” Dean huffed. Olivia giggled at the two, swapping to Sam’s hand as he slid into the row first.

“You take the aisle.” Sam tried to help Dean sit, but Dean pulled away irritably. Sam instead sat in his chair, pulling Olivia up onto his lap.

On the stage, a blind man wearing sunglasses was being helped to the lectern by a woman. She stepped aside as he took his place.

“Each morning, my wife, Sue Ann, reads me the news. Never seems good, does it?” Roy started, the crowd nearly constantly agreeing at varying volumes. “Seems like there’s always someone committing some immoral, unspeakable act. But I say to you, God is watching. God rewards the good, and He punishes the corrupt. It is the Lord who does the healing here friends. The Lord who guides me in choosing who to heal by helping me see into people’s hearts.”

Dean leaned over to Sam and Olivia. “Yeah, and into their wallets.” He mumbled out of the corner of his mouth.

“You think so, young man?” Roy asked suddenly, the crowd instantly falling silent.

“…sorry.” Dean offered.

“No, no. Don’t be. Just watch what you say around a blind man, we’ve got real sharp ears.” Roy joked, the crowd laughing. “What’s your name, son?”

Dean cleared his throat, hesitant. “Dean.”

“Dean.” Roy repeated to himself, nodding. “I want…I want you to come up here with me.”

The crowd began clapping, apart from Layla and the woman in front of them. Roy’s wife, Sue Ann, moved to center stage, grinning at Dean, who shook his head.

“No, it’s okay.”

“What are you doing?!” Sam whisper-shouted at him.

“You’ve come here to be healed, haven’t cha?” Roy asked.

“…well, yeah, but ahh…maybe you should just pick someone else.” Dean tripped over his words as the crowd continued clapping, encouragingly. Sam and Olivia stared at him with wide eyes.

“Oh, no. I didn’t pick you, Dean, the Lord did.” Roy explained, the crowd cheering more.

“Get up there!” Sam insisted, the crowd’s excitement fueling Olivia’s, who bounced on Sam’s knee.

“Go, D!”

Dean reluctantly stood, going up to the stage. Sue Ann helped him up, standing him next to Roy.

“Are you ready?” Roy asked him.

“Look, no disrespect, but ahh, I’m not exactly a believer.”

Roy grinned at him. “You will be, son. You will be.” Roy turned a small bit to the crowd. “Pray with me, friends.”

The crowd lifts their arms up, joining hands with each other. Roy lifts his hands before placing them on Dean’s shoulder and the side of his head. “Alright now. Alright now.” Roy mumbled to himself.

Dean’s knees wobbled, before he dropped to them, Roy’s hands still on him.

“Alright, now.”

Dean wobbled again, collapsing to the stage floor as the crowd cheered.

“Dean!” Sam yelled, jumping out of his chair and running to the stage, Olivia in his arms. He put her next to Dean, grabbing his hoodie as Dean’s eyes burst open with a harsh gasp. “Say something!” Sam panicked. Olivia tucked her hands into her torso, worriedly looking between the two. Dean blinked heavily, looking around. His eyes caught on Roy, Olivia following his gaze. She caught a glimpse of something dark for a split second, but it was gone when she looked.

* * *

The siblings left with the rest of the crowd, Dean insisting on both driving and going to the hospital to make sure nothing was wrong. They managed to get in quick enough, the doctor and nurses doing several tests at Dean’s insistence.

“So, you really feel okay?” Sam asked, after a while of quiet in the check-up room.

“I feel fine, Sam.” Dean grumbled.

The door opened, the doctor from before entering with a file full of paperwork. “Well, according to all your tests there’s nothing wrong with your heart. No sign there ever was. Not that a man your age should be having heart trouble, but, still it’s strange it does happen.”

“What do you mean, strange?” Dean asked him.

“Well, just yesterday, a young like you, twenty-seven, athletic. Out of nowhere, heart attack.”

“…thanks, Doc.”

“No problem.” The doctor left, the siblings trading looks.

“That’s odd.” Dean half-accused.

“Maybe it’s a coincidence. People’s hearts give out all the time, man.” Sam tried to shrug it off, setting Olivia on her own feet.

“No, they don’t.” Dean bit back.

“Look, Dean, do we really have to look this one in the mouth? Why can’t we just be thankful that the guy saved your life and move on?”

“Because I can’t shake this feeling, that’s why.”

“What kinda feeling?” Olivia asked.

“When I was healed, I just…I felt wrong. I felt cold. And for a second…I saw someone. This, uh, this old man. And I’m telling you, Sam, it was a spirit.”

“But if there was something there, Dean, I think we would’ve seen it too. I mean, I’ve been seeing an awful lot of things lately.”

“Well, excuse me, psychic wonder. But you’re just gonna need a little _faith_ on this one. Sam, I’ve been hunting long enough to trust a feeling like this.” Dean insisted.

Sam sighed. “Yeah, alright. So, what do you wanna do?”

“I want you to go check out that heart attack guy. Liv and I are gonna go visit the reverend.”

* * *

Another Pediasure in Olivia’s bag, the two pretty easily got inside the LeGrange’s house. Roy and Dean sat on two couches, Olivia next to Dean. Sue Ann was standing, filling a glass.

“I feel great. Just trying to, you know, make sense of what happened.” Dean started.

“A miracle is what happened. Well, miracles come so often around Roy.” Sue Ann beamed.

“When did they start? The miracles.” Dean asked Roy.

“I woke up one morning, stone blind. Doctors figured out I had cancer. Told me I had maybe a month. So, uh, we prayed for a miracle. I was weak, but I told Sue Ann, ‘You just keep right on praying.’ I went into a coma. Doctors said I wouldn’t wake up, but I did. And the cancer was gone.” Roy took his sunglasses off, his eyes pure white. “If it wasn’t for these eyes, no one would believe I’d ever had it.”

“And suddenly you could heal people?” Olivia asked, tilting her head.

“I discovered it afterward, yes. God’s blessed me in many ways.”

“And his flock just swelled overnight. And this is just the beginning.” Sue Ann crowed.

“Can I ask you one last question?” Dean asked Roy.

“Of course you can.”

“Why? Why me? Out of all the sick people, why save me?”

“Well, like I said before, the Lord guides me. I looked into your heart, and you just stood out from all the rest.”

“What did you see in my heart?”

“A young man with an important purpose. A job to do. And it isn’t finished.” Roy explained.

The two quickly excused themselves, Olivia perched on Dean’s hip, despite her attempt to ‘not hurt him’

“Kid, I swear, you and Sam. I’m fine now, right?” Dean rolled his eyes, adjusting his grip on her. Sue Ann and Roy smiled at them as they left.

Outside, Layla and her mother were waiting.

“Dean, hey. And hello Olivia.” Layla greeted them.

“Hey.” Dean replied, Olivia giving her a more energetic wave than before.

“How you feeling?” Layla asked Dean.

“I feel good. Cured, I guess. What are you doing here?”

“You know, my mom, she wanted to talk to the reverend.” Layla half-shrugged as Sue Ann stepped out onto the porch.

“Layla?” She asked.

“Yes, I’m here again.” Layla admitted, her voice soft.

“Well, I’m sorry, but Roy is resting. He won’t be seeing anyone else right now.”

“Sue Ann, please. This is our sixth time, he’s got to see us.” Layla’s mom pleaded.

“Roy is well aware of Layla’s situation. And he very much wants to help just as soon as the Lord allows. Have faith, Mrs. Rourke.” Sue Ann nodded to the group, ducking back into her house.

Layla’s mom stared after her, her gaze turning to Dean with a sneer. “Why are you still even here? You got what you wanted.”

“Mom, stop.”

“No, Layla, this is too much. We’ve been to every single service. If Roy would stop choosing these strangers over you, strangers who don’t even believe…I just can’t pray any harder.”

“…Layla, what’s wrong?” Dean asked her, his voice quiet.

“I…I have this thing…” Layla hesitated.

“It’s a brain tumor. It’s inoperable. In six months, the doctors say-” Layla put a hand on her mother’s shoulder, stopping her.

“I’m so sorry.” Dean eventually got out.

“It’s okay.” Layla tried to reassure him.

“No. It isn’t.” Mrs. Rourke turned back to Dean. “Why do you deserve to live more than my daughter?”

With that, Mrs. Rourke walked away. Layla took a shaky, deep breath, following her. Dean and Olivia watched them go, glancing back at the house before Dean headed back to the car.

The drive back to the motel, except for the loud music, was quiet. Upon arriving, they went right into the room. Dean tossed the keys on one of the beds, taking off his jacket. Olivia plopped on one of the beds, the two seeing Sam at the table on the laptop.

“What’d you find out?” Dean asked him.

“I’m sorry.” Sam was barely audible, his voice sounding almost thick.

Dean tossed his jacket on the bed, walking over to him. “Sorry about what?”

“Marshall Hall died at 4:17.”

“…the exact time I was healed.” Dean almost recoiled.

“Yeah. So, I put together a list of everyone Roy’s healed, six people of the past year, and I cross-checked them with the local obits. Every time someone was healed, someone else died. And each time, the victim died of the same symptom LeGrange was healing at the time.”

“So, someone’s healed of cancer, someone else dies of cancer?” Dean clarifies.

“Somehow. LeGrange…he’s trading a life for another.”

“Wait, wait, wait. So, Marshall Hall died to save me?”

“Dean, the guy probably would’ve died anyway. And someone else would’ve been healed.” Sam tried to reason.

“You never should’ve brought me here.”

“Dean, we were just trying to save your life.”

“Sam, some guy is dead now because of me.”

“D, we didn’t know.” Olivia mumbled from the bed, fiddling with her fingers.

“The thing I don’t understand is, how is Roy doing it? How’s he trading a life for a life?” Sam asked after a tense silence.

“Oh, he’s not doing it.” Dean replied. “Something else is doing it for him.”

“What do you mean?”

“The old man I saw on the stage. I didn’t wanna believe it, but deep down I knew.”

“You know what? What are you talking about?”

“There’s only one thing that can give and take life like that.” Sam and Olivia stared at Dean, confused. Dean sat at the table with Sam. “We’re dealing with a reaper.”

“You really think it’s _the_ Grim Reaper? Like, angel of death, collect your soul, the whole deal?” Sam asked him.

“No no no, not _the_ reaper, _a_ reaper. There’s reaper law in pretty much every culture on earth, it goes by 100 different names; it’s possible that there’s more than one of them.” Dean explained.

“But you said you saw a dude in a suit.”

“What, you think he shoulda been working the whole black robe thing? You said it yourself that the clock stopped, right? Reapers stop time. And you can only see ‘em when they’re coming at you, which is why I could see it and you two couldn’t.”

“Maybe…”

“There’s nothing else it could be, Sam. The question is, how is Roy controlling the damn thing?”

“…that cross.” Sam muttered.

“What?”

“There was this cross, I noticed it in the church, I knew I’d seen it before.” Sam searched through some papers, snorting as he held something up to Dean. “Here.”

“…a Tarot?”

“It makes sense. A tarot dates back to the early Christian era, right, when some priests were still using real magic? And a few of them veered in the dark stuff? Necromancy and how to push death away, how to cause it?”

“So, Roy’s using black magic to bind a reaper?” Dean asked.

“If he is, he’s riding the whirlwind. It’s like putting a dog leash on a great white.”

Dean stood, putting a cup in the sink, leaning against the counter. “Okay, then we stop Roy.”

“How?”

“You know how.”

Sam glanced at Olivia, who had become half-enraptured with a coloring page during the conversation. “Wait, what the hell are you talking about Dean, we can’t kill Roy.”

“Sam, the guy’s playing God, he’s deciding who lives and who dies. That’s a monster in my book.”

“No. We’re not going to kill a human being, Dean. We do that, we’re no better than he is.”

“Okay. We can’t kill Roy, we can’t kill death. Any bright ideas, college boy?”

“Okay, uh…if Roy’s using some kind of black spell on the reaper, we gotta…figure out what it is. And how to break it.” Sam offered.

The two talked a bit more strategy before grabbing their coats, deciding it was safer to have Olivia stay in the room this time around.

“Alright, rules, short-stack?” Dean asked, throwing his jacket back on.

“Don’t let anybody in unless it’s you with the safe word or the secret knock, keep the sign on the door, keep it quiet.” Olivia listed them off on her fingers.

“Perfect, we should be back in a few hours.” Dean pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, Sam ruffling her hair as the two left.

On her own for a bit, Olivia turned on the TV, settling on some show about magical teens trying to learn how to control elements? She didn’t quite understand the concept, clearly a bit into the show, but it held her attention enough she barely noticing the time passing until Sam and Dean returned, looking slightly defeated.

“Motherfucker, it’s us kiddo.” Dean said before Olivia could demand it. The brothers sat on the beds, facing each other.

“…so, Roy really believes.” Sam finally said, after vaguely explaining what they’d found to Olivia.

“I don’t think he has any idea what his wife’s doing.” Dean agreed.

“Well, I found this.” Sam handed a small book to Dean. “Hidden in their library. It’s ancient. Written by a priest who went dark side. There’s a binding spell in here for trapping a reaper.”

“Must be a hell of a spell.”

“Yeah. You gotta build a black alter with seriously dark stuff; bones, human blood…to cross a line like that, a preacher’s wife…black magic, murder, evil.”

“Desperate. Her husband was dying, she didn’t have anything to save him. She was using the binding spell to keep the reaper away from Roy.”

“Cheating death, literally.”

“Yeah, but Roy’s alive, so why is she still using the spell?” Dean asked.

“Right, to force the reaper to kill people she thinks are immoral.”

“May God save us from half the people who think they’re doing God’s work.” Dean monotoned.

“We gotta break that binding spell, Dean.”

“…you know, Sue Ann had a Coptic cross like this. When she dropped it, the reaper backed off.”

“So, you think we gotta find the cross or destroy the alter?”

“Maybe both. Whatever we do, we better do it soon. Or he’s healing Layla tonight.”

Getting a better plan together, and eating a quick dinner, the brothers left again, promising to be back by morning at the latest. Olivia didn’t stay up long, tired from all the ranging emotions of the past week and curled up on one of the beds. She was asleep in minutes.

Hours must have passed when she heard the motel door open, a light from the hallway hitting her eyes. She groaned, rubbing her eye.

“It’s just us, bug. Motherfucker, go back to sleep.” Sam reassured, the two shortly getting into bed as well. Dean took the empty bed, leaving Sam to share with Olivia.

“You guys g’t the m’nster?” Olivia slurred, already mostly asleep again.

“Sure did, Princess.” Dean told her, snoring shortly after.

* * *

The next morning, the three were slowly getting ready to leave for whatever hunt would come next. Dean, in particular, was sitting on one of the beds, staring at nothing.

“…what is it?” Sam asked him after a while.

“Nothing.”

Sam looked at Olivia, who shrugged.

“What is it?” Sam asked again, gentler this time.

“We did the right thing here, didn’t we?”

“Of course, we did.”

Dean hung his head. “It doesn’t feel like it.”

A knock at the door stopped their talk.

“I got it.” Sam offered, opening the door, Layla standing in the hallway. “Hey, Layla. Come on in.”

“Hey.” She greeted, stepping inside.

Dean quickly stood. “How did you know we were here?”

“Sam…called. He said you…wanted to say goodbye?”

Dean looked at Sam, who was at the door.

“Uh, I’m gonna go…get a soda. Coming, Liv?” He asked, Olivia hopping up to follow him out.

“D’you think they like each other?” Sam tried to joke at the vending machine.

“Yeah. They always give each other weird eyes when they look at each other.” Olivia scrunched her nose.

“Weird eyes, huh?”

“You know I’m right, don’t laugh at me!” Olivia huffed.

“Okay, I’m sorry, you are right.” Sam ruffled her hair, the two heading back for the room as Layla left. They waved as she went to her car, going back into the room.

“You ready?” Sam asked Dean, shouldering his bag.

“Yeah. C’mon, baby girl! Shake a leg!” Dean joked, leading the siblings out of the motel room and to the car for their next destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed, sorry for taking so long to get back into this. I hope y'all are ready for a big time jump!  
> Next Chapter: Dead Man's Blood


	8. Dead Man's Blood

It had been a long time for the Winchester siblings since the faith healer, Roy LeGrange. They’d gone after a racist, possessed truck, another psychic like Sam, a family of freaky cannibals, a shadow monster, a web-made ghost, a monster that attacked kids in their sleep (Olivia was not around there for long), and some ghosts haunting a painting, and now found themselves in a café in Nebraska, searching for more jobs as they took a break from driving. Dean was flipping through a newspaper, Sam on the laptop, Olivia happily munching her way through a kid’s burger and fries.

Dean, after a quiet while, folded the paper in half, putting it on the table. “Well dude, not a decent lead in all of Nebraska. What’ve you got?”

“Well, I’ve been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota. Here; a woman in Iowa fell 10,000 feet from an airplane and survived.” Sam reported.

Dean hummed, flicking his eyes between Olivia and Sam. “Sounds more like ‘that’s incredible’ than, uh, ‘Twilight Zone’.”

“Yeah.” Sam agreed.

Dean smirked, leaning back in his chair. “Hey, you know we could just keep heading east. New York. Upstate. We could drop by and see Sarah again, huh? Cool chick man, smokin’.” Dean whistled, Sam giving a half-grin. “You two seemed pretty friendly. What do you say?”

“Yeah, I dunno, maybe someday. But in the meantime, we got a lot of work to do Dean, and you know that.” Sam shrugged it off.

“Yeah, all right. What else you got?” Dean asked, fighting back an eyeroll.

“Ahh…man in Colorado, local man named Daniel Elkins, was found mauled in his home.” Sam read out.

“Elkins? I know that name.” Dean muttered.

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Elkins…Elkins…Elkins…” Dean repeated under his breath. Olivia reached into the bag with them, passing Dean John’s journal.

“Sounds like the police don’t know what to think. At first, they said it was some sort of bear attack and now, they’ve found some signs of robbery.” Sam kept reading.

Dean, flicking through the journal. “There, check it out.” He handed it to Sam, the name and a phone number on the page.

“You think it’s the same Elkins?” Sam asked.

“Colorado area code.” Dean shrugged.

After finishing eating, the three piled back into the car, headed South-West to Daniel Elkins’ place. Didn’t take long, maybe 7-8 hours, but it was dark when they arrived. Sam and Dean made sure their guns were full, Dean hesitating.

“Kid, come in with us.”

“What? Dean!” Sam argued.

“It’s too dark and the house is too far, I don’t like leaving her all the way out here alone.” Dean handed Olivia a metal pipe. It was small enough that she didn’t struggle to carry it, but still heavy enough to do some damage. “Here, you take that. You see anyone-”

“Aim for the knees or groin and run screaming.” Olivia half-guessed, half-recited.

“Attagirl.” Dean closed the trunk, the three headed up to the cabin.

Sam picked the lock, the door slowly swinging open as he put his tools away. Dean peered in, flashlight in hand. The three carefully walked around the huge mess.

“Looks like the made didn’t come today.” Dean muttered.

“Hey, there’s salt over here. Right before the door.” Sam pointed out, Olivia crouching to see it closer.

“You mean protection against demon salt, or ‘oops I spilled the popcorn’ salt?” Dean asked, flicking through a journal.

“It’s in a circle.” Olivia decided, Sam nodding. “Think he was a hunter?”

“Definitely.” Dean agreed, Sam and Olivia walking over to him. Olivia looked around, too short to see exactly what they were reading.

“That looks a hell of a lot like Dad’s.” Sam muttered.

“Yep, except this dates back to the 60’s.” Dean pointed. The three moved through the house, looking all around, including to the hole in the roof.

“Whatever attacked him, looks like there was more than one.”

“Looks like he put up a hell of a fight too.”

“Yeah.” Sam agreed. They kept looking around the room, Dean crouching to get a closer look at something on the floor. “You got something?”

“I dunno…some scratches in the floor.”

“Death throes maybe?”

“Maybe…Liv, hand me that.” Dean pointed to a nearby notebook. She did so, Dean using a blank page and a pencil to get an outline. “Or maybe a message.” He picked up the paper, peeling it off the bloody floor, handing it to Sam. “Look familiar?”

“Three letters, six digits. The location and combination of a post office box…it’s a mail drop.” Sam figured out.

“Just the way Dad does it.”

The three hurried back to the car, going to the post office in town. Dean opened the box, removing the only thing inside; a single letter with two letters on the front. Thanking the receptionist, the three went back to the car, looking at the envelope, Olivia mostly leaning over the front bench to see.

“J.W. You think…John Winchester?” Sam asked the two.

“I don’t know. Should we open it?” Dean looked between them.

A knock-on Dean’s window made all three siblings jump, Dean rearing back his fist in defense. Looking through, John’s face peeked through with a grin.

“Dad?” Dean asked, John sliding in the backseat with Olivia, who slid over a bit.

“Dad, what are you doing here? Are you all right?” Sam asked him.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I read the news about Daniel, I got here as fast as I could. I saw you three at his place.” John reassured, mussing up Olivia’s hair.

“Why didn’t you come in Dad?” Sam asked, his voice soft.

“You know why. Because I had to make sure you weren’t followed…by anyone or anything. Nice job covering your tracks, by the way.” He praised.

Dean smiled. “Yeah, well, we learned from the best.”

“Wait, you came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?” Sam asked.

“Yeah. He was…he was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting.” John nodded.

“Well you never mentioned him to us.”

“We had a…we had kind of a falling out. I hadn’t seen him in years.” He gestured to the envelope in Dean’s hands. “I should look at that.” Taking it, he opened it, his eyes scanning over the paper. “ _If you’re reading this, I’m already dead_ …that son of a bitch.”

“What is it? Dean asked, Olivia half-trying to peer at the paper.

“He had it the whole time.” John muttered.

“Dad, what?” Sam asked.

“When you searched the place, did you-did you see a gun? An antique, a Colt revolver, did you see it?”

“Ah…there was…there was an old case, but it was empty.” Dean thought back.

“They have it.”

“You mean whatever killed Elkins?”

John started to get out of the car. “We gotta pick up the trail.”

“Wait, you want us to come with you?” Sam asked him.

“If Elkins was telling the truth, we gotta find this gun.”

“The gun-why?” Olivia asked.

“Because it’s important, that’s why.” He half-answered.

“Dad, we don’t even know what these things are yet.” Sam retorted.

“They were what Daniel Elkins killed best: Vampires.”

“Vampires? I thought there was no such thing.” Dean asked.

“You never even mentioned them, Dad.” Sam added.

“I thought they were extinct. I thought Elkins and…and others had wiped them out. I was wrong.” He got out of the car, looking in the open door. “I’ll meet you at the motel down the street. No point trying to hunt on low batteries.” He shut the door, going back to his truck.

A few seconds of confused stares later, Dean turned on the car, following John’s truck to the motel. They all got a room, piling in.

“So, what do we know about vampire lore?” Dean asked, taking a seat at the table with John, Sam sitting on one of the beds with Olivia.

“Most vampire lore is crap. A cross won’t repel them, sunlight won’t kill them, and neither will a stake to the heart. But the bloodlust, that part’s true. They need fresh human blood to survive. They were once people, so you won’t know it’s a vampire until it’s too late.” John explained, cracking open a beer and taking a hearty swig after.

Sam opened his mouth, most likely to argue, but Dean caught him. “Sammy, would you give Liv a hand getting the bath set up? Kid’s a little rank.”

“I am not!” Olivia pouted, but hopped up to pull Sam with her, dragging her backpack in with them.

After the door closed, Dean turned back to John, who raised a brow at his reaction. Dean gave a half-laugh, shrugging. He cleared his throat, fiddling with his own beer bottle. “Say, Dad. What do you…remember…’bout Olivia’s mom?”

John hummed, leaning back to think. “Not much, didn’t know her very long honestly. Pretty sure Olivia’s gonna look more like her when she grows up. Why?”

“Just…couple things I was curious about.”

“Like what?” John asked, hearing the shower start in the bathroom.

“Uh, well for one, she stopped putting on weight a couple months ago. Like, was losing it fast. This, uh, mom we helped back in Kansas told us about these, like, vitamin drinks that are supposed to help kids with that, but I don’t think it’s completely helping.”

“That’s a little odd but doesn’t sound too weird.” John hummed.

“I guess. Just…wanted to know if you knew her mom had anything similar.”

“Not to my knowledge.” John shook his head.

Dean nodded, the two falling quiet for a minute, before talks about the vampires picked back up, Sam and Olivia exiting the bathroom after a little while. Sam, Dean, and Olivia quickly turned in, falling asleep quickly, Olivia with Sam, while John sat up at the table with a police dispatch radio.

Hours later, John still sitting up by the radio, heard a call come through.

_“Unit 22 let me confirm. Mile marker 41, abandoned car. You need a workup?”_

_“Copy that. Possible 207. Better get forensics out here.”_

John jumped to his feet, grabbing his jacket. He slapped Sam and Dean’s feet, calling their names to wake them up. “Sam, Dean, let’s go.”

Dean hummed, still half-asleep. Sam half-sat up, jostling Olivia awake as Dean rubbed his eyes.

“I picked up a police call.” John started.

“What happened?” Sam asked,

“A couple called 911, found a body in the street. Cops got there, everyone was missing. It’s the vampires.”

Sam sat up more, moving to stand. “How do you know?”

John, already half-way out the door, turned. “Just follow me, ok?”

Sam huffed, walking across the room to get his jacket. Dean, still half-asleep, laughed. “Huh, vampires. Gets funnier every time I hear it.” He sat up, pulling over his shoes as Olivia rubbed her eyes. “Guess you’re staying here, squirt. You know the rules?”

“Don’t let anybody in unless it’s you with the safe word or the secret knock, keep the sign on the door, keep it quiet.” Olivia recited with a yawn.

“You got it.” Dean stood, pressing a kiss to her forehead as he passed Sam on their way out. “We’ll call if we know anything!” The door closed and Olivia rolled over as the door locked, falling back asleep quickly.

She woke up several hours later, hearing the growl of the Impala outside. She hopped up, hiding near the door, just to be safe. A key entered the lock, the door swung open a foot.

“Hey, Liv! Motherfucker, we gotta go!” Dean called, jumping when she popped out of the curtains. “Whoa-jeez, Princess, warn a guy. Now, come on! Get dressed and ready, Sammy and Dad are waiting.”

Within five minutes, she and Dean were hopping in the Impala, John’s truck roaring to life a few spots away.

“You alright, Liv? Hair’s a mess.” Sam asked, turning the key.

Olivia nodded, yawning heavily. “Jus’ woke up.” She mumbled, rubbing her eyes, missing the look the brothers shared.

“Why don’t you have one of those drink things, try to wake up a bit.” Dean told her, gesturing to the cooler on the floor. Olivia nodded, leaning down to pull one out as Sam pulled out of the parking lot, following John.

They sat quietly for a bit before Dean pulled out a book that, apparently, John had given him.

“ _Vampires nest in groups of eight to ten. Smaller packs are sent to hunt for food. Victims are taken to the nest where the pack keeps them alive, bleeding them for days or weeks._ ” He read aloud. “I wonder if that’s what happened to that 911 couple.”

“That’s probably what Dad’s thinking. Course it would be nice if he just told us what he thinks.” Sam huffed.

“So it is starting.”

“What?”

“Sam, we’ve been looking for Dad all year. Now we’re not with him for more than a couple of hours and there’s static already?” Dean groused.

Sam sighed. “No-look, I’m happy he’s okay, all right? And I’m happy that we’re all working together again.”

“Well good.”

“It’s just the way he treats us, like we’re children.” Sam blurted out.

“Oh, god.”

“He barks orders at us, Dean, he expects us to follow ‘em without question. He keeps us on some crap need-to-know deal.”

“He does what he does for a reason.” Dean insisted.

“What reason?”

“Our job! There’s no time to argue, there’s no margin for error, all right? That’s just the way the old man runs things.”

“Yeah well maybe that worked when we were kids but not anymore, all right. Not after everything you and I have been through, Dean. I mean, are you telling me you're cool with just falling into line, and letting him run the whole show?” Sam glared at Dean.

Dean looked back, with much less conviction. “If that’s what it takes.”

Sam shook his head, the conversation ending with a much higher tension than before.

They drove around all day, following John’s truck across town and back several times, night falling eventually. Sam stayed in the driver’s seat, grip tense on the wheel. Dean’s phone rang, John’s name on screen. They spoke for a minute before Dean hung up.

“Yeah Dad. All right, got it.” He put his phone away. “Pull off at the next exit.”

“Why?” Sam demanded.

“Cause Dad thinks we’ve got the vampire’s trail.”

“How?” Sam growled.

“I don’t know, he didn’t say.”

Sam, suddenly, floored it, passing John’s truck as Dean looked between him and Olivia with bugged out eyes. Once Sam was in front of the truck, he slammed on the brakes, spinning the Impala sideways in front of John’s truck, causing both to stop.

“Oh, crap. Here we go.” Dean mumbled as Sam got out of the car. “Sam! Liv, you okay?” He asked, getting out of his seatbelt. She gave him a watery nod, tears on her cheeks. “Okay, c’mon.” He hopped out, picking her up to follow Sam and John, who was also out of his truck, both livid. “Sam!” Dean called, Olivia clutching his jacket.

“What the hell was that.” John demanded.

“We need to talk.” Sam snarled.

John stopped, now face to face with Sam. “About what?”

“About everything. Where we going, Dad. What’s the big deal about this gun?”

“Sammy, come on, we can Q and A after we kill all the vampires.” Dean tried to insist.

“Your brother’s right. We don’t have time for this.” John told Sam.

“Last time we saw you, you said it was too dangerous for us to be together. Now, out of the blue, you need our help. Now, obviously something big is going down, and we wanna know what!” Sam’s volume increased as he spoke, ending with a yell that had Olivia tensing in Dean’s arms.

“Get back in the car.” John told him.

“No.” Sam refused.

“I said get back in the damn car.”

“Yeah. And I said no.”

“Okay, you made your point tough guy. Look, we’re all tired, we can talk about this later. Sammy, I mean it, come on.” Dean grabbed Sam’s jacket with one hand, pushing him back toward the car. Sam started walking, still staring at John.

“This is why I left in the first place.” Sam mumbled as he went.

“What’d you say?” John asked him.

Sam swung back around to the fight. “You heard me.”

“Yeah. You left. Your brother and me, we needed you. Olivia needed you. You walked away, Sam.”

“Sam…” Dean tried to warn.

“You walked away!” John screamed in Sam’s face. Olivia started crying harder, still too quiet for the enraged men to hear yet.

“Stop it, both of you.” Dean tried to insist.

“You’re the one who said don’t come back, Dad, you closed that door, not me! You were just pissed off that you couldn’t control me anymore!” Sam yelled back, ignoring his siblings.

Dean forced them apart, standing in the middle. “Listen, stop it, stop it! Stop it!! That’s enough!!” He yelled, both men glaring at each other over Dean’s head. “That means you too.” Dean looked at John.

Slowly, both men turned back to their cars, leaving Dean and Olivia in the road alone. Dean looked between them, pressing Olivia’s head to his face, pressing a quick kiss to her hair. “Terrific.” He mumbled, going back to the Impala and sitting in the back with Olivia.

* * *

The continuing journey was tense, quiet. Olivia, at least, fell asleep a little while later, the boys keeping to themselves as they followed John. They managed to find the nest just before sunrise, all four piling out to scout the place.

A beat-up, old Camaro pulled in, a vamp getting out as another opened the door to meet them. They spoke, briefly, but too quiet to be heard from a distance.

“Son of a bitch. So, they’re really not afraid of the sun?” Dean asked.

“Ahh, direct sunlight hurts like a nasty sunburn. The only way to kill ‘em is by beheading. And yeah, they sleep during the day – doesn’t mean they won’t wake up.” John explained.

“So, I guess walking right in’s not our best option.”

“Actually, that’s the plan.” John stood, leading the way back to the cars.

Dean opened the trunk of the Impala, him and Sam weaponing up as John did the same from a hidden compartment in the back of his truck.

“Dad, I’ve got an extra machete if you need one.” Dean offered, John holding up a massive, shiny, serrated edge machete from a leather holder.

“I think I’m okay. Thanks.”

Dean near drooled. “Wow.”

“So, you boys really wanna know about this Colt?” John asked.

“Yes sir.” Sam nodded.

“It’s just a story, a legend really. Well, I thought it was. Never really believed it until I read Daniel’s letter.” He leaned against his truck, Dean closing the trunk to do the same, Sam picking Olivia up to sit between them. “Back in 1835, when Halley's comet was overhead, the same night those men died at the Alamo. They say Samuel Colt made a gun. A special gun. He made it for a hunter, a man like us only on horseback. Story goes he made thirteen bullets, and this hunter used the gun a half dozen times before he disappeared, the gun along with him. And somehow Daniel got his hands on it.” John paused, thinking. “They say…they say this gun can kill anything.”

“Kill anything like…supernatural anything?” Dean asked.

“Like the demon.” Sam muttered.

“Yeah, the demon. Ever since I picked up its trail, I’ve been looking for a way to destroy that thing. Find the gun…we may have it.” John nodded, seeming hopeful. He stood again, sheathing the machete. “Alright, Olivia stays here, keep the doors locked. Sam, Dean, with me.”

Olivia hopped off the trunk and into the car, crouching in the backseat as the men headed toward the dilapidated barn. It was quiet for a few minutes, near silent, until yells and roars broke out, Sam and Dean running out first, a horde behind them, though they stayed inside. Olivia sat up as Sam and Dean got to the top of the hill slope, turning back.

“Dad? Dad!!” Dean yelled.

Several seconds passed before John appeared, all three running closer to the cars.

“They won’t follow. They’ll wait till tonight. Once a vampire has your scent, it’s for life.” John explained, his voice muffled through the door.

“Well, what the hell do we do now?” Dean asked him.

“You gotta find the nearest funeral home, that’s what.” John smirked, all three kids looking around at each other, confused.

* * *

Dean went alone, dropping Olivia and Sam off at the motel with John. Olivia, cross-legged on one of the beds, shifted her eyes between John, sitting at the table, and Sam, pacing the length of the room over and over.

“It shouldn’t be taking this long. I should go help.” Sam said, finally breaking the silence.

“Dean’s got it.” John tried to reassure, watching Sam walk. “Sammy.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think I ever told you this but…the day you were born, you know what I did?”

“No.”

“I put a hundred bucks into a savings account for you. I did the same thing for your brother. It was a college fund. And every month I’d put in another hundred dollars, until…anyway, my point is, Sam, this is never the life I wanted for you.”

“Then why’d you get so man when I left?” Sam asked him.

“You gotta understand something. After your mother passed, all I saw was evil, everywhere. And all I cared about was keeping you boys alive. I wanted you…prepared. Ready. Except somewhere along the line I…uh…I stopped being your father and I…I became your-your drill sergeant. So, when you said that you wanted to go away to school, all I could think about, my only thought was, that you were gonna be alone. Vulnerable. Sammy, it just…it never occurred to me what you wanted. I just couldn’t accept the fact that you and me…we’re just different.”

Sam gave a breathy laugh.

“What?” John asked him.

“We’re not different. Not anymore. With what happened to Mom and Jess…well we probably have a lot more in common than just about anyone.”

“I guess you’re right, son.” John admitted with a smile.

“…hey dad? Whatever happened to that college fund?” Sam asked him after a minute.

“Spent it on ammo.” John shrugged.

The room was silent for a minute, before all three occupants started laughing together. Dean opened the motel room a second later.

“Whew. Man, some heavy security to protect a bunch of dead guys.” He sighed, shutting the door behind him.

“Get it?” John asked.

Dean reached into his jacket, pulling out a paper bag, then a bottle full of something thick and red from that, handing it to John.

“You know what to do.” John told them.

* * *

John lead the way to a clearing a little ways out of town, the moon illuminating their way as they made a campfire. Olivia was stationed to toss sticks in here and there, half to keep the fire fed and to keep her occupied and in sight while the men got things together. Sam patrolled around the fire, machete in hand as he kept his eyes out toward the dark. John and Dean came over from the Impala’s trunk, a small pouch in John’s hand.

“Toss this on the fire.” John ordered, handing it to Dean. “Saffron, skunk’s cabbage and trillium. It’ll block our scent and her, until we’re ready.”

Dean, taking a whiff of the bag, recoiled with a harsh cough. “Stuff stinks!”

“That’s the idea. Dust your clothes with the ashes, and you stand a chance of not being detected”

“You sure they’ll come after ‘er?” Sam asked, referring to the vampire John had managed to grab earlier.

“Yeah. Vampires mate for life. She means more to the leader than the gun. But the blood sickness is going to wear off soon, so you don’t have a lot of time.” John explained.

“A half hour oughta do it.” Sam nodded.

“And then I want you out of the area as fast as you can.” John continued.

“But…”

“Well, Dad you can’t take care of them all yourself.” Dean cut Sam off.

“I’ll have her. And the Colt.”

“But after…we’re gonna meet up, right? Use the gun together… _right?”_ Sam asked, getting no answer. “You’re leaving again, aren’t you. You still wanna go after the demon alone. You know, I don’t get you. You can’t treat us like this.” Sam huffed. Olivia sidled closer to Dean, grasping at his jeans and jacket hem.

“Like what?” John challenged.

“Like children.”

“You are my children. Olivia is still just a kid. I’m trying to keep you safe.”

“Dad, all due respect but, uh, that’s a bunch of crap.” Dean cut in. Sam, Olivia and John all turned to look at Dean, eyes wide and jaws dropped.

“Excuse me?”

“You know what, Sammy and I have been hunting. Hell, you sent us on a few hunting trips yourself. You can’t be that worried about keeping us safe.”

“It’s not the same thing, Dean.”

“Then what is it? Why do you want us out of the big fight?”

“This demon? It’s a bad son of a bitch. I can’t make the same moves if I’m worried about keeping you alive.”

“You mean you can’t be as reckless.” Dean challenged.

“Look…I don’t expect to make it out of this fight in one piece. Your mother’s death…it almost killed me. I can’t watch my children die too. I won’t.”

Olivia fidgeted with Dean’s jacket, biting her cheek.

“What happens if you die?” Dean asked, Olivia snapping her head back up as Dean hoisted her onto his hip. “Dad, what happens if you die, and we coulda done something about it? You know I been thinking. I…I think maybe Sammy’s right about this one. We should do this together.” Olivia could see Sam nodding on Dean’s other side. “We’re stronger as a family, Dad. We just are. You know it.”

“We’re running out of time. You do your job and you get out of the area. That’s an order.” John told them, completely ignoring Dean’s entire argument.

Dean dropped his head and Sam clenched his jaw, following their father’s orders...for now.

Once the fire had died down enough to get the ashes needed, the siblings covered themselves in them, going toward the car.

“Olivia,” John called, taking a knee next to her. Sam and Dean paused by the doors. John hesitated, finding his words. “…you be good for your brother’s. Keep them out of trouble.” Olivia nodded, giggling as John ruffled her hair before pointing toward the car.

They didn’t drive for long, getting back to the nest within the hour. Sam and Dean snuck in, clearing out the vampires that stayed behind with ease. They go back, again within an hour, and Dean sits at the wheel for a minute.

“…Dean? What’s up?” Sam asked, Olivia sitting forward a bit.

“D?”

“…Screw Dad, we aren’t leaving yet.” Dean turned the key, tearing off to where John had planned to meet the vampires. They parked a ways away, making sure Olivia was safe before running through the trees to the fight. Olivia could hear yelling and screaming, screeching tires the last thing before Sam and Dean came back, driving up the main road and meeting up with John’s truck, going back to the motel for the night.

The next morning, Sam, Dean and Olivia were packing their bags as John entered.

“So, kids.”

The three turned to him.

“Yes sir.” Sam replied.

“You ignored a direct order back there.”

“Yes sir.”

“Yeah, but we saved your ass.” Dean cut in. Olivia and Sam looked at him, both nervous and awed. John kept his eyes trained on Dean, who swallowed hard.

“You’re right.” John finally said.

“I am?”

“It scares the hell out of me. You three are all I’ve got. But…I guess we are stronger as a family. So…we go after this damn thing. Together.”

“Yes sir.” Sam and Dean intoned, Olivia a second behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Also, huge thanks to TheHuntressOfApollo for all of your lovely comments on every chapter thus far (I have no idea how to link/tag you, sorry!)!!  
> Next Chapter: Salvation   
> (We're almost done with Season 1!)

**Author's Note:**

> Quick little intro chapter, just to see if this takes off. If you like it, let me know and I'll try to post more!


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